The ever boiling Nigerian netscape went agog weeks ago for what many netizens described as “misplacement of priorities”, “slap on education”, etc. The remarks are on unrelated to the industrial action currently grounding academic activities across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. There was a lady. A pretty lady with academic prettiness who emerged as the best graduating student of Medicine, in the ancient University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka. For what would warrant the snide remarks opening this article was that she was rewarded in a very colourful event, with press men present to report the occasion with a figure prize of N10, 000, which is about $30. Many would even say the banner which carried a Guarantee Trust Bank Logo was more expensive in acquisition than the prize reward.
That shame. That kind of shame that characterizes the value ascribed to education in Nigeria. On Facebook, a poster said, “Big brother Nigeria pays better even in their obscenity than the respect given to academic integrity and character in Nigeria”, a fine comment I couldn’t agree less with him.
Come with me, this opening would make sense to you soon.
On the 14th of August, 2017, many Nigerian newspapers bannered their front pages with Academic Staff Union Universities, ASUU, embarking on an indefinite strike to reopen their suspended case against the Federal Government of Nigeria for a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, signed in 2009, renegotiated in in 2013 which encapsulate funds to the mark of about N853B which is to cover for the resuscitation of academic structures across tertiary institutions, upgrade of teaching aids, provision of conducive environment for learning. It would also cater for the earned academic allowances of tertiary institutions’ staff, which has run into billions due to inability of the Federal Government to be responsible to payments.
As the strike stroke, it was declared an indefinite strike. Many tertiary institution lecturers down tools in a collective resolve to press home their requests. Many students would lament the incessant strikes as always the only-last-resort. Futures are postponed on a macro and micro scale for students. Academic calendars are always adjusted to suit the wasted time from strikes which would hasten academic session but depreciate learning. It is a sad story. Government, ASUU, Students- ALL mourn. But while most students mourned, the Kogi State University Students reeked in jubilation for being in class after the 7 months homeless due to ASUU-KSU’s strike for non-payment of salaries, a protracted issue that would take the Governor of the State, Yahaya Bello, proscribing ASUU to resolve the industrial impasse.
The interesting twist to the strike was when the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu would notify the press that Government were in talks with ASUU to call off the strike.
As a counteraction of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB’s earlier policy on admission, which eliminated the double stress of Post Unified Matriculation examinations which is an examination directly administered by universities to take part in the selection process of admitting students, was rescinded. The earlier policy would place more emphasis on Secondary School Certificate results. The better the result, the higher your chances of gaining admission as grades were calculated in points which draws a cumulative for admitting students. JAMB took absolute control of the admission processes.
Few days after ASUU entered into talks with Government, the Federal Government announced her decision to reintroduce post UTME, which is a mockery of her earlier decision to try a new format. Keen spectators would agree that this decision was also an outside-MOU request of ASUU before suspending the strike. It would mean students are to pay for JAMB exams and Post UTME exams jostling for academic space growing wildly deficient in quality. The stench of infrastructural decay and stunt workforce in our tertiary institution is also a growing concern. What is JAMB, what is Post UTME?
Post UTME originally would draw income for tertiary institutions as some schools charge as high as N5000 for the entrance forms. It is a leak on the purse of many Nigerian parents suffering in-between the never going away recession mentality of the Nigerian economy and absence of payment of salaries. It is a “double wahala for dedi bodi” kind of thing as Fela sang.
As a rider to the reintroduction to the reintroduction of the UTME exams, JAMB’s registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on 22nd of August, 2017 announced the crash of JAMB cut off mark to be pegged at 120, while polytechnics and Colleges of Education seats at 100. He explained that the access was to create “access” for competition for all students. He however hinted that JAMB placed a minimum cut off, as individual institutions can set their own personal cut off to 250, if they so desire.
In criticism of this, the social media reacted in anger, bemoaning the insensitivity of the decision which would further decapitate the already dead academic standard in the country. It was also argued that every Tom, Ochimana and Amana can apply to universities even with low academic scores, which may affect the overall quality of the graduates Nigeria produce.
Their cries are legitimate, however, I see it differently.
Come with me to the opening of this article. Do you remember that UNN best graduating medicine student? She actually failed to secure the required JAMB cut off to study Medicine in UNN. According to different sources, she entered into the faculty with a less demanding course, related to medicine and would make a switch to medicine after her first year. What played out in this context could affirm the theory that exams is not the only test of intellect. In the Nigerian educational conversation, tertiary institutions have not also been able to cater for different types of learners. The multi intelligence available in the field of scholarship has proven that academic grades, examinations of different control methods cannot be the only way of testing intellectual grandeur. They’re students who also understand concepts superiorly but sucks in the anxiety of writing to pass examinations.
The question of who stands to benefit more also comes to play. The disproportionate access to education by some sections of the Nigerian Federation cannot be helpful to “Nigeria” at the long run. The North is known to perform abysmally in JAMB exams, even access to the exams could hold context. The crashing of cut off would provide universities individual choice, aside the quota system to plan the educational growth of their own citizens if the argument for “True Federalism/ Restructuring” can hold water. Even distribution of academic advantage can reduce the intolerance in Nigerians, the dog-bone fight for natural resources due to wild marginalisation of some section, etc.
In countering the argument for those who think the reduction in cut-off leads to reduction in quality of graduates, I may disagree. The quality of graduates churned out has little to do with the entrance cut off, because education is supposed to develop the mind. The argument I would posit is divorced from the cut-off mark. The bane of academic quality rests on academic infrastructure, the quality of lecturers, innovative teaching aids and techniques and research grants and opportunities. Have we attended to these things? Intellect has surpassed the years of cramming concepts and reduplicating them for academic grades. That is the story, most times of those who make strong results in Nigeria. There’s theory which doesn’t build the realistic approach of innovations.
The Federal Government of Nigeria have also charged Nigeria Universities for financial autonomy. How can they be autonomy without creating channels of funding through schemes as post UTME exams?
The main target of the relaxation of the cut-off is to help tertiary institutions increase their benchmark for generating income internally. To the detriment of the students and parents, as thousands of students would be applying to institutions that have minuscule capacity to admit them. They’ll also be increase in admission racketeering as the population would increase exponentially.
Conclusively, this decision may seem uncalculated, but how it resolves the industrial dispute along with the 28BN promised ASUU by Government is what would make the difference for Nigerian students.
– Promise Emmanuel is a Media Strategist.
He writes on various issues.
You can reach him via:prodigypromise.emmanuel@gmail.com
