Ever looked at a lawmaker and thought “I could do that job”? Here’s what the law actually requires before you can try.
The 1999 Constitution (as amended) sets baseline qualifications for each seat. The exact wording covers citizenship, age, and education, here’s the gist, in plain terms:
Age. Nigeria lowered its age requirements in 2018 through what’s widely known as the “Not Too Young To Run” Act. Roughly: the President and Governors must be at least 35. Senators must be at least 35. Members of the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly must be at least 25. Before 2018, those last two were higher, the change was specifically meant to open the door to younger candidates.
Citizenship and residency. You must be a Nigerian citizen, and for most of these seats, you need to be a registered voter connected to the constituency or state you want to represent, you can’t parachute into a random state you’ve never lived in and run for its Assembly.
Education. Candidates generally need at least a school certificate (SSCE) or its recognised equivalent, the bar is a basic minimum, not a university degree requirement.
What disqualifies someone. A few things can knock a candidate out regardless of age or education: certain criminal convictions (particularly involving dishonesty or fraud), being declared bankrupt without discharge, holding dual allegiance in a way the law restricts, or being found to have presented false information during the election process.
None of this is exotic, it’s closer to “any registered adult citizen who meets a basic age and education floor, and hasn’t been convicted of serious dishonesty” than some hidden elite requirement. The real barrier to becoming a lawmaker in Nigeria is rarely the legal qualification, it’s money, party structures, and name recognition. But that’s a different article entirely.
Next up: From Idea to Law: How a Bill Becomes Law in Your State, the state-level version of a process we already covered federally.