: MY TAKE-AWAY
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 TERTIARY 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
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