According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), universities cannot be closed on February 25 so that students can cast their ballots in the presidential election.
The commission emphasised that it lacks the legal authority to mandate that schools give notice of election breaks.
This information was disclosed in an interview by Rotimi Oyekanmi, the media assistant to INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Nigerians have pushed for university holiday weekends so that students can vote in the upcoming elections and obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The same call was made in a resolution that Hon. Kabir Tukura presented to the House floor on Thursday and was headed, "Urgent Need to Give the Students of Tertiary Institutions of Learning in Nigeria an Opportunity to Vote in the General Elections."
40.8% of newly registered voters, or 3.8 million students, have expressed alarm about Tukura's possible disenfranchisement.
Because school schedules don't take into account election timelines and dates, he continued, educational institutions are designed in a way that "disenfranchises most kids."
Oyekanmi, however, asserted that the panel has the power to impose academic calendars on colleges.
Oyekanmi says, “Each university has a governing council that decides how the university should be run. I doubt it, although I stand to be corrected if the National Universities Commission can issue a directive to universities on when to go on holidays or operate.
“Don’t forget that we also have private and state universities that the Federal Government is not funding, although the NUC performs its oversight functions on their academic programmes, which are subjected to regular accreditation exercises.
“In the same manner, the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot compel any university to announce a holiday for election purposes. We don’t have such powers. This decision is best left to the governing council of the individual universities.”