That Ban On JAMB And NECO
he proposed ban on JAMB and NECO as examination bodies came to millions of Nigerians with little or no shock. It was neither a bolt from the blue nor the handiwork of armchair theorists. It is a natural cause and effect scenario or better one of the manifestations of a corrupt environment.
Products of educational institutions in the sixties and seventies will endorse without hesitation that what is on the ground today is a far cry from what they passed through. This is inspite of the fact that modern communications and their gadgets proliferate information and knowledge at an incredible speed and frequency.
Quite understandably, the proposal to ban the two public examination bodies is informed by persistent public outcry against day light examination malpractices at their examination centres. Candidates of JAMB and NECO examinations engage mercenaries to write the examination for them. In the process, security officers are bribed and compromised while some invigilators and supervisors collude with candidates who greased their palms behind the scene. Sooner or later, these half-baked candidates collapse into the university system as undergraduates.
While in the university, they align themselves to some lecturer godfathers through periodic “settlement” to assist them in bearing the burden of their academic inadequacies. In the academic circles, a device known as “sorting” implies subtle sale of examination marks or the sale of enviable degree grades depending on the amount paid by the student. Besides, to scoop more money from the academic degree hungry public, Nigerian universities are encumbered with various programmes whose motive is not to produce manpower which is already in abundance. The questionable money minting programmes include: Weekend, Evening, Part-time and Afternoon degree programmes.
According to July 23, 2009 edition of The Nation newspaper, Nigerian universities were not among the world’s best. It is doubtful whether the scenario has changed for the better since that publication. The Nation reported that none of the country’s universities made the list of the best 400 universities in the world covered by the survey published by the US NEWS and WORLD REPORT. Only two African countries from South Africa, the University of Cape Town and the University of Witwatersrand made the list.
Topping the list was Harvard University (US) followed by Yale University (US) and University of Cambridge (UK). Malaysia, a developing country like Nigeria had four of her universities in the list.
With this public castigation and shame, the nation’s universities are still commercializing and ethicizing higher education. Some decades back, one would swear to high heavens that the Universities of Ibadan, Nsukka and Ahmadu Bello should be among the world’s best 400 universities.
Sadly, with the resultant global image and credibility problems, many Nigerians will not be easily convinced that Nigerian universities are scheming to oust JAMB and NECO from conducting public examinations to become the only gate way to tertiary institutions in the country.
Nigerian universities have become a modern albatross proliferating every nook and cranny with half baked graduates through the process of “sorting”. They should leave JAMB and NECO alone after failing woefully in their primary assignment of turning out quality graduates.
IBC And Weather Forecast
Sir I was lucky last week when I stumbled on weather forecast from a private radio station in Abia State. It was broadcast after the 6am news updated. As the forecast covered the entire South-Eastern states, I was forced to drop my umbrella for the day because dry weather was predicted and it came to pass. It also helped me and others around to make maximum use of the day.
My plea is for the IBC to make room for daily weather forecasts in its programmes. This will reduce the incidence of carrying long umbrellas about like walking sticks with some forgotten in buses, keke or taxes. Imolites need to be guided this rainy season by weather forecasts more so now that 2013 has been designated as another year of heavy flooding in states like Imo.
This public service slot will enable Imolites to plan their days without the disruptive factors of a deluge and flooding.
Weather forecast relays in the electronic media is another indirect way of fighting flooding. Those in flood ravaging areas will be compelled to stay indoors to combat the floods on rainy days. By so doing, several household items could be salvaged besides rescuing livestock in the premises.
It is not enough to announce it once. The weather forecast for the day should come after news summaries or bulletins to sensitize Imolites and assist them to brace for the environmental hazard.
IBC management should rectify promoted correspondents’ reports which are never aired during news bulletin broadcasts. The oddity occurs three to five times in each bulletin. The anomaly which is peculiar to the Clearest Voice East of the Niger is nauseating. Please, management, check it!
Amaechi Kingsley
Mpama Egbu.
