Subscribe: Gist E-Paper
No fewer than 1,200 candidates contesting Senate and House of Representatives seats in the 2027 general elections listed the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) as their highest educational qualification, according to an analysis of data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The review of the final candidate lists covered all 3,450 entries for both chambers, rather than a sample.
The analysis showed that 1,448 candidates had identifiable university degrees or postgraduate qualifications, while 1,200 listed secondary or SSCE-level qualifications as their highest identifiable educational attainment.
Another 433 entries were placed in an unspecified or other category because the qualification details were blank, unclear or inconsistently stated.
For the House of Representatives, 1,022 candidates had university-level qualifications, compared with 884 who listed secondary or SSCE qualifications.
In the Senate, 426 candidates had university-level qualifications, while 316 listed secondary or SSCE as their highest identifiable qualification.
The figures indicate that university-level qualifications are more common among candidates whose educational records could be classified. However, the 433 unclear entries mean the overall educational profile cannot be determined with complete certainty.
The two final candidate lists for the Senate and House of Representatives were signed by INEC Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony.
The analysis noted that because the complete candidate lists were examined, there was no sampling margin of error. The remaining uncertainty resulted from incomplete or ambiguous qualification information contained in the original records.
Meanwhile, women account for only 443 of the 4,408 candidates cleared by INEC to contest Senate and House of Representatives seats in the 2027 elections, according to a separate analysis of the commission’s final list.
The figure represents about 10.1 per cent of the candidates, comprising 115 women among 1,195 Senate candidates and 328 women among 3,213 House of Representatives candidates.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, a coalition led by Gender Strategy Advancement International (GSAI), in collaboration with PWAN, CISLAC and PAACA, called for measures to address barriers limiting women's participation in elective politics.
Speaking under the theme, “Beyond Participation: Amplifying Women Candidates, Advancing Political Leadership and Building an Inclusive Nigeria for 2027,” the stakeholders said attention should extend beyond participation to nominations, visibility, competitiveness and electoral success.
GSAI Executive Director, Adaora Onyechere Sydney-Jack, said women remained substantially underrepresented in political decision-making despite constituting a significant proportion of Nigeria’s population and electorate.
The group identified the cost of political participation, including nomination fees, campaign logistics, mobilisation and media visibility, as among the barriers facing women candidates.
It also called for consideration of reserved seats for women as an inclusion mechanism to increase their representation in legislative institutions.
The stakeholders noted that Nigeria's female representation in the National Assembly had historically remained low and pointed to disparities among states in the number of women contesting senatorial seats.
According to their analysis, no female senatorial candidate was listed in Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger and Yobe, while Akwa Ibom had the highest number, with 10 female senatorial candidates.
The group said the number of female National Assembly candidates had increased from 380 in 2023 to 443 in 2027, but maintained that the increase had not significantly altered the gender imbalance in the electoral field.
