The Civil Empowerment and Rule of Law Support Initiative (CERLSI), a group working on governance and capacity building of Nigerians, has said that the Tinubu government decision to limit entrance requirement to 18 years of age to Nigerian universities is unacceptable and puts the image of Nigeria out there as having a group of backward leaders.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, CERLSI deputy executive director who sent this message to the media in Abuja said that at a time when many countries start off their citizens early in the fields of science, tech and innovation and sports, imposing a benchmark on intellectual potential of a people is inimical to development.
‘The policy reminds Nigerians of the Inquisition and of the Middle Ages in Europe where intelligent people were burnt at stake. It is one of the worst decisions anyone or government can take concerning the capacity building of her people, and it must be rescinded immediately’, Etemiku said.
Etemiku said that there are many places in the North of Nigeria where children of school age are left out there in the streets in an obnoxious caste system, instead of being in school.
‘Such practices belong to the stone age, and Nigeria with one of the most virile and most productive youth population in the world has no business numbing that virility and productiveness by a prehistoric policy as the one the Tinubu government is imposing’, Etemiku added.
CERLSI is an organisation that aims to build capacity of Nigerians on the import of the vote, their rights and privileges under the laws of Nigeria. Its focal areas include citizen engagement and capacity building, rule of law, community advocacy, media and human rights.
