At the pronouncement of the Honourable Minister of Education,
Mallam Adamu Adamu, the conducts of post-jamb by Nigerian Universities cease to
continue. Like every policy, directives, government decisions, they come with
the two side of the coin. However, this decision comes with three sides- the
good, the bad and the ugly.
Mixed reactions as expected have trailed this decision with some
Nigerians are almost indifferent owing to the socio-economic hardship currently
ravaging the Nation, some lauding and some casting aspersions at this directive
and the homo-sapiens behind the decision.
“Education is golden key to unlocking the door of liberty”- A
former President of the United State of America, Abraham Lincoln opined when he
could not hide his sentiment for knowledge. It is a fundamental truth that a
Nation that neglects its educational system has only hung its sack of
impoverishment like the proverbial prodigal son. Even the Nigeria constitution
in section 18 recognizes education as a public good and a responsibility of the
government.
The rhetoric of education being an important foundation of nation
building is one that has continued to gain currency. However, the Nigerian
state still operates an educational system that could be likened to what is obtainable
in the dark ages of 15th century. It is no gainsaying that the rhetoric of poor
funding by the government, inadequacy of municipal facilities, examination
malpractice, victimization of radical students activists, academic and academic
staffs, sexual harassment, gross violation of fundamental right, poor treatment
of staffs and students, mass corruption and lucid ineptitude and
maladministration have taken over the Nigerian University system.
The labour market, recipient of the decay in the sector, cries of
being saturated by “half-baked graduates” or better still “unemployable
graduates”. It is unfortunate that the root cause of these fantastically
grounded problems is being overlooked.
Upon hearing the new development on the post jamb, I was thrown
into a pool of confusion and at the same time ocean of confidence. While
personally, the current minister of education, Adamu Adamu by my rating is yet
to live up to expectation. As his tenure has experienced and paid lip service
to the gross violation of fundamental human right on Nigeria campuses such as
the killing of Students in UNIPORT, the draconian imposition of “mid-semester
breaks” by university administrators (Unilag, UI, AAUA, UNIPORT etc). I deem it
fit to commend him on the cancellation of post-jamb.
It is a naked truth that the best method to combat corruption is
not just by tackling the manifestation of corruption which the FG had tacitly
adopted in her anti-corruption war but by exterminating the root cause. It has
been argued that one of the dens of admission racketeering in the university
system is the Post-Jamb. The policy which was a still-birth even at conception
has thrown a lot of bright students into Academic wilderness and intellectual
desert. I will give certain examples to buttress my argument.
A particular student (name withheld) having scored above 200+ in
jamb, burnt the mid-night oil in anticipation of post-jamb examinations, needed
to put up with the expensive cost of tutorials, the exposure to accident as a
result of bad roads, the throat-cutting costs of post-jamb forms and result
checkers (at a period when the government is yet to pay salaries), expose to
sexual harassments as result of no accommodation and at the end of the
day scored less than 200 which is the supposed cut-form marks. Is that
not the case of double tragedy? Even, some struggle to manage to scale the
cut-off mark hurdles yet the message is No Admission Yet.
Without prejudice to the Obasanjo Administration, the ratification
of the recommendation of the committee of Pro-chancellor in 2003 headed by
Barr. Afe Babalola is one of the many attacks on education.
If care is not taken in this country, I want to believe that a
time is coming when the rich will have nothing to eat except the poor. The decision
to scrap Post-Jamb is not only a Pro-masses policy if necessary measures are
put in place but also a step in the curbing the lingering menace in the
education sector.
It is almost unimaginable, and liquidly betrays the sanitized
thinking of an average Nigerian to hear that one of the main reasons for
instituting post-jamb was because students who “sincerely burnt the mid-night
oil” and got rewarded by hard work through high scores could not prove their
mettle before “stern-looking and fear invoking” professors at interview panels.
It likewise stabs logic in the head to believe that because a fresh secondary
school student seeking admission into a tertiary institution could not name the
author of the book, A Man of the People, then the high score recorded by such
student is a product of the “invincible hands of Miracle Centres”. All these
are just “Pharaoh” excuses to fatten the purse of those who see educational as
luxury good for the poor.
Post-jamb with all due regard to the tertiary institutions, both
private and public has served as money-refinery for the universities and thus
commercialized the ivory towers, i just can’t fathom how an institution that
does not have the capacity to admit five thousand students will sell post-jamb
forms and checkers (at exorbitant prices) to over fifteen thousand students,
thus, making admission survival of the fittest and Mid-night Miracles. Where
are the monies that have been generated from this exercise over the past ten
years been ploughed? It is still the old rhetoric of under-funding. Who is
fooling who?
Sincerely, I do not believe in short cut to success, the road to
success is rough, tough and rugged but at end of the tunnel is light. Instead
of lamenting over the cancellation as perceived in some quarter, we should see
the positives in this policy and usher in the return of meritocracy and sanity
in Nigeria university system.
In the final analysis, I strongly agree that the cancellation of
post-jamb is not in any way a panacea to the problem and rot that has eaten
deep into the Nigeria educational system. However, it is a step in the right
direction to restoring sanity and sanctity in the system. At least, an attempt
has been made at reducing the headache by administering pain-relief. After
then, a wholesale treating of malaria can commence.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ACTORS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR:
RESTRUCTURING and REINVENTING JAMB
Gone were the days when Jamb examination was seen as “Almighty”
and held in high regard. Examination malpractices have become the order of the
day. A total restructuring in the conduct of jamb examinations, its processes
and the board itself is long overdue. It is true that the proverbial lizard
will never find its way in the wall unless there is a crack. The leaking of
jamb questions is not without the knowledge of “the insiders”. Jamb should
devise a more secured method to prevent leaking of questions. The CBT is a
welcome idea but in a country struggling with regular and relatively stable
electricity, the CBT is more like putting on a SUPRA footwear on an Ankara
“Buba and Sokoto”.
An all-inclusive and transparent admission mechanism should be
entrenched so as to afford for meritocracy and drastically reduce and if
possible eliminate favouritism and nepotism that has beclouded admission
processes.
RESTRUCTURING OF SYLLABUS AND CURRICULUM FROM PRIMARY TO
TERTIERARY LEVEL
It is a naked truth that the Nigerian education sector is already
in comatose waiting for admission at the Intensive Care Unit. The rot in the
system is deep-rooted and has many branches. However, one unfortunate
development is the out-dated syllabus and God-forsaken curriculum. The syllabus
needs total review and curriculum needs updating. The tertiary institutions
should as a matter of urgency launch and include an “Agriculture for All”
Program. This sheme should extend to the primary level to the tertiary level,
thus strengthening the government’s plan of diversification of the economy.
This will even reduce the over-dependence on white-collar job and cyber-crime
and increase employment and self-sufficiency. Restructuring the syllabus and
curriculum is not just about removing Crk/Irk.
INCREASE UNIVERSITY FUNDING
While it is commendable that the budgetary allocation for
education in this fiscal year is an improvement as compared to other past
years, the government needs to meet the 26% budget allocation as recommended by
UNESCO. Inadequacy of municipal facilities, poor or no research, students’
protest and incessant shutdown of universities are not unconnected to poor
funding.
LEGISLATION OF INDEPENDENT STUDENT UNION
The ministry of education is an important sector of the economy
and as such its stakeholders are quintessential as well. The students union by
the provisions of chapter iv, section 40 (Right to peaceful assembly and
association) are and remains an integral part of the universities. But the
recent development on Nigeria campuses is not only ugly but also disheartening.
The authority bans and unbans the union anyhow, criminalise their right to
dissent and as such instigate campus unrest. Legislation on Independent Student
Unionism will further formalize and legalise the actions and inaction of this
prospective Nigeria leaders.
I want to believe that with the removal of post-jamb, Nigeria
should be assured that nepotism and favoritism has seen its end and the return
of meritocracy is set to begin. The era of admission racketing is gone. The
money-refinery of the universities has reduced by one. The untenable admission
hardship experienced in the past has and will sincerely become a thing of the
past.
Time is the best Author
God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria,
God bless the Indivisible and Indissoluble Nigeria State.
Emmanuel Adeyi Ojedokun (Immanuel Kant),
PRO, OAU Students’ Union, 2014/2015 Parliamentary Year,
Convener, Cheetah Race Network
09051588508, 08066406705
IG: theadeyiemmanuel
Twitter: @Immanuelkantz
Xperience92@gmail.com