EXAMINATIONS AND MALPRACTICE: WHITHER NIGERIA?

It is no longer news that we are in a season of examinations, namely Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME) of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), and NECO. Of course these examinations are prerequisite for gaining admission into the public universities in Nigeria. Hence, the values attached to them and even the subsequent tests (aptitude test).

I am one of those who believe in the Nigerian project at the present which will occasion the future success story we shall tell of our great country. I also believe that time shall come when a great Nation shall be built out of the present challenges and predicaments. Surely, the time is closing in. But I will not fail to point out that presently, there needs to be an urgent overhaul of our dear country's educational system. The preceding lines are very important because some critics would always like to term those who are critical of situations and those who question the status quo as either being pessimistic or unpatriotic. This piece is anything but fanning the embers of pessimism or cynicism. It’s rather a patriotic act aimed towards the betterment of our society, our country and the world at large.


The educational system in Nigeria, as we know today, is one we cannot be very proud of, especially when it comes to stemming the tide of examination malpractice and grounding the admission process into the universities on 'pure' merit. The basis for this is drawn from the present practice of some students who engage the services of artificial helpers, code-named 'magic angels' in order to pass their examinations. Over the years, JAMBITES and indeed candidates for other examinations, maybe, having lost their self-confidence, and or having not studied well, resorted and still resort to the easiest way of making it - expo. They spent and still spend large sums on the 'runs' and just like every other fraudulent adventure, it is always two sided: some succeed, other do not. It becomes even more painful and jaw-breaking when parents are at the forefront of the drive and fight for the sustenance of examination malpractice. Such parents would take their children to what I would like to call ‘citadels of examination malpractice’ often called ‘miracle centers’. Thus it is not new when we hear things like ‘special JAMB’, ‘outside WAEC’ and ‘special centers’. 

Some years ago, I had a discussion with a friend who claimed he knew someone who scored above 250 in UTME with the help of runs and then, was studying pharmacy in one of the Federal universities. I tried reasoning with him even as I told him of the consequences of such fraud, of which included the possible loss of many  lives should such person goes through to becoming a pushover pharmacist. But my friend told me something I could not easily forget! He said, "Agozie, it doesn't really matter how he got admitted, but what's important is that he is a student of pharmacy now". I was disappointed with him initially, but at a deeper thought, I blamed him less. For a student who majored in sciences in his secondary school, but had his practìcals in a ‘virtual laboratory’ with his textbooks and notes as the only real laboratory is not to be blamed wholly for resorting to 'runs' in order to pass an examination which he is to write with other students who actually did the practicals! This is not to say that I am supporting such student, rather, I am making a case for an urgent need to reposition education in Nigeria!

I believe that sharing the experience I had when I wrote UTME will explicitly expose the rot in our educational system. I registered for UTME when the Computer-Based Test (CBT) was first introduced. I opted to write the normal paper and pencil test because I did not want to be caught up in problem, say, power failure or poor network.

I left home and arrived early at the centre I was posted to, the location of which I will not write here for personal reasons. It was not long after my arrival that my surprises started. The examination was yet to start, but students were already copying answers to questions they were yet to see! Of course there were  on ground security men, comprised of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), who on searched every candidates before  they passed through the gate. Trust me, phones and other foreign materials were confiscated. The second stage was the biometric verification which was put in place to avoid impersonation. But my greatest surprises came during  the examination proper. 

Inside the examination hall, the officials announced that each and every one of us was to pay a sum of one thousand Naira (#1000). This, they said would make them give us “breathing space” to write the exam. The phones of the students who paid were respectively returned, thus, they were free to, by any means, find answers to the questions contained in the papers. Those who refused to pay were allowed to write on the condition that they would not at any time seek answers from any other means apart from their intellect. The defaulters’ scripts were confiscated, while the scripts are redeemable only when such a persons involved pay the sum so paid by others. The shocker came when a JAMB official, a woman, announced that she had with her, answers to the questions but was quick to point out that it would be given to those who might want it at a price, quite different from the thousand naira paid before –imagine!

The sitting arrangement was such that three persons sat per seat. And an hour into the examination, the two persons who were to sit with me were nowhere to be found. Some  candidates had pity on me since ‘I had no one to copy from nor ask questions’. Interestingly, towards the end of the examination, the occupants of the seats came and 'miraculously' finished, even before I did. How? It was very simple: they had the answers already, thus shaded WITHOUT READING THE QUESTIONS!!! Enquiries revealed that the duo answered PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND ENGLISH. Í would not be surprised if I got to know that they successfully secured admission into the higher institution of learning, since it had become the practice for 'money to change hands' or 'power to change hands' in the choice of candidates for admission into our High Institutions.

The dire consequences of this ugly trend is here with us: the graduation of some 'half baked' individuals, the intellectual drains of our society. The health, environmental and other sectors risk engaging the services of these 'graduates'. Our health system cannot be trusted entirely as there are situations where one who is suffering from malaria is diagnosed with typhoid or other illnesses, and I strongly believe that some of these things are direct result of examination malpractice. It is common knowledge that some graduates cannot even defend their certificates.

The onus is now on all stakeholders in educational sector and indeed all Nigerians to work tirelessly towards repositioning the educational system,  especially at the elementary and secondary levels. This should be so because, a building without a solid foundation cannot stand. There is no justification for a parent to register his or her child in 'special centres' as it is a direct indictment on both the students and their respective  parent(s). The government agencies charged with the conduct of examinations in Nigeria should be proactive in finding and achieving ways of stamping out examination malpractice in Nigeria with the principle of merit entrenched in admitting and grading students. Above all, it is the collective responsibility of all Nigerians to speak out and practically fight against examination malpractice and the attendant evils. By so doing, we create a Nigeria of our dreams; one where excellence and not mediocrity, good and not evil thrives. Arise O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey.

I wish all those taking external examinations this year, a resounding success!

Reach me on twitter at @ifedichiagozie. Blog on www.callistusifedi.blogspot.com

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THE NOTORIETY OF INTELLECTUAL DISINTERESTEDNESS AMONG THE YOUTHS: ANY HELP TO NATION DEVELOPMENT? BY: DOMINIC E.B. ANYALAGBUNA, (adebse@gmail.com).

THE NOTORIETY OF INTELLECTUAL DISINTERESTEDNESS AMONG THE YOUTHS: ANY HELP TO NATION DEVELOPMENT?

BY: DOMINIC E.B. ANYALAGBUNA, (adebse@gmail.com).

1.0.         Preamble:

The sanctity of studies has, and is largely eroding the grasp of a great majority of the youths with unlimited velocity. Moreover, ‘academic studies’ which can be said to have a greater take in defining the youths’ destinies in this spatio-temporal realm have been sacrificed under the altar of laziness, haphazardly decorated and squalidly founded on intellectual indifference by most youths.  Still, the youthful zest and energy which should be harnessed into positive intellectual ends have been substituted for apathy, lethargy, unseriousness, aimlessness and insouciance. The youths, therefore, find satisfactions in things that are cataclysmic! Things that destroy instead of the ones that build. No one desires to suffer. No one wants to bear the aching pains of sitting down to study. These are engendered by the fact that the sacrament binding the youths to studies has fallen pronouncedly apart and thus call for salvation. This has, as a result, sky-rocketed to unimagined back-forwarding of so many sectors of our nation’s development. Consequent upon these anomalies, and mourning the youths’ negligence of the prophecy of A. D. Sertillanges in his inspiring work, The Intellectual Life, that intellectual work leads to the development and deepening of the mind, it thus lies in the interest of this essay to search for ways of salvaging the progressively decaying nature of intellectual advancement among the youths especially as it concerns their unacceptable attitude to academic studies in connection to the role this plays in nation building.

2.0.         Evolution of Nigerian Intellectual Liberation: Towards a New Nation

One of the major contributing factors (if not the only major factor), in the 1960 independence of Nigeria could be traced to education. The British colonizers, then, came with their so-called ‘superior knowledge.’ They used it to heavily exploit us in almost every area of our life. According to Walter Rodney in his thought-provoking work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, the colonizers, ab initio, never wanted to introduce the Africans to education or academic studies lest the latter get to know the secret of their sovereignty since knowledge is power and ideas rule the world. Their colonizing power rested in the authority of their educational prowess. But, as centuries ebb, Africans got the hint of education and thus began to drink in the ocean of the ‘whitemen’s knowledge.’ This, the Africans achieved, through education. They had to study in order to acquire knowledge and be empowered. This, without mincing words, and in the Nigerian context, gave birth to the eventful fact of 1960 independence and the ensuing quick hand-over. In the end, Nigeria began to see another face of life brought about by education. It was a move towards building a nation though with much setback in terms of corruption that characterized to finish, the mid-20^th century Nigeria (though this was the disease the whitemen left us in).

3.0.         The Intellectually Decaying State of Some Nigerian Youths:

Most contemporary Nigerian youths seem to enjoy swimming in the ocean of distraction and vanities. All around them almost constantly bear the semblance or bespeak of inattentiveness and uncontrolled zeal for mundane things. We live in the age of ‘instant gratification.’ Delayed gratification is obliterated and the opposite is sought. Suffice it to say that majority of the youths detest studies/learning. Some find it too burdensome to sit down to not just read but study. As such, the fruits of studies erode them. Much of the study hours are wastefully lent to movies.  The social networks dominate most of the hours. Few hours spent in studies are often used up in distracting thoughts. The place of sleep in their studies occupies vast abyss. Sporadic sleep is taken as another escape to studies. What a defeated soldier! Of course, the yearning for examination malpractice has become a major characteristic of most examinations taken in Nigeria. Any examination without malpractice is likely to be a mere self-imposed lecture. Can a nation be developed when its citizens are found hell-bent in the midst of these? The answer is obvious!

4.0.         Academic Studies: Any Help to Nation Building?

I prefer the word ‘studies’ to ‘education’ because of the abuses the latter has incurred in the hands of varied writers. Also, this choice is motivated by the fact that it appears to be a better way of making the message distinct to the readers especially the youths and again, for the sake of our subject matter. Besides this, by way of clarification, ‘to study’ etymologically implies ‘to be diligent, zeal, great care.’ It means to fix the mind closely and ‘abstractly’ upon an idea or a thing; to dwell upon anything in thought; to muse; to ponder, to acquire knowledge of a thing, to look at something very closely. As such, the act of studies positively opens the intellect to the world of ideas - ideas that animate one’s whole being which magnet every other being around. When this is the case, then, the mind is better fixed on the things that speed up man’s existence. Part of this is in thinking out ways to well survive in the world culminating in building a better society.

Academic studies enable one to be intellectually energized. And so, with Josephat Ukonu, learning liberates one from the shackles of ignorance and brightens one’s economic potentials. These potentials manifest and are harnessed in a society where its adherents live which in turn influence it. In this way, the nation is founded on a solid rock.

Furthermore, studies unravel hidden knowledge. In doing so, man comes to the hidden mysteries of development. It empowers one with the vigour of seeking for avenues of social development and positive change. With the sharpened intellectual acumen, it helps to eliminate every cause for exploitation, slavery, racism and other intimidations. So, learning/studies empowers and makes for a learned nation, and a learned nation is a developed nation.

Still, academic studies delete the fear of exam phobia to an extent and the chances of indulging in examination malpractices are limited. It builds confidence. The culminating point is the academic excellence which opens the way to employment (of whatever kind). The question of unemployment is also reduced to self-employment. With this, a nation is purged-off of the evils of intellectual destruction and a sure foundation of technological forwardness is dug. The fruit of this is the giving of birth to a nation glittering in positive development.

5.0.         The Way Forward:

Indeed, there is still hope! But then, a work must be done. This work to be done is therefore outlined by A.D. Sertillanges in his inspiring work, The Intellectual Life. According to him, for one to engage in intellectual work, he/she has to begin by creating within him/her a zone of silence, a habit of recollection, a will to renunciation and detachment from oneself and the world which puts one entirely at the disposal of the work, and then acquiring that state of the soul unburdened by desire and self-will which is the state of grace of the intellectual worker.

Moreover, man is endowed with rationality. This reason is the badge of the sovereignty of physical man over all other physical organisms. Hence, it distinguishes him from all other animals. So, man is endowed with the capacity to think, to abstract and retain without eliminating ‘to study.’ In useful application of this, he charges himself. He prepares himself for the task ahead - the task of developing himself and invariably building his nation. This can be achieved if only youths will renew their interest in studies.

With his rationality and freedom, in addition, man is capacitated with the right to choice of values, that is, what interests one so much; what one cherishes so dearly! It is in this sense that I suggest trans-valuation of values for the youths. When we re-evaluate what gives us joy, happiness, meaning and fulfillment, then we are in the better position to call upon hard work. A work that is deeply hard, that sets us on fire, that makes hard people: hard people, in the sense of studies and learning.

Going further, to study is a spiritual act. It has its own spirituality. In other words, there is a spirituality of studies. Any infringement into this spirituality shatters it. This spirituality abhors examination malpractice, laziness, unrestrained frequency to social networks, hunger for instant gratification, questionable relationships, and indiscipline of the senses and appetites. Therefore, the urgency of re-awakening the spirituality of academic studies as a move towards building our nation is supremely necessary! Let the youths go back to the ritual of sitting down and studying!!!

6.0.         The Finale:

How can a nation grow when its youths score high grades in intellectual indifference? How can nation development be possible when studies are denigrated? It can be very impossible for a nation to grow in the presence of laziness, indifference, apathy, examination malpractice, inattention, distraction which characterize its youths’ attitudes to studies. The youths belong to, live in and are products of the society. Therefore, whatever achievements the youths make, reflect in the society. When made positively, the society is in such-wise affected, and the same follows when perpetrated negatively. Let us begin to liberate ourselves first of all from the shackles of intellectual disinterestedness, from the odorous smell of laziness and distraction and focus our whole heart, our whole being into positive and powerful intellectual development through academic studies which invariably transform the society unto the best. Cherish learning! Love studies!!! Let the sound of sincere ‘academic studies’ begin to reverberate in the ear ossicles of the youths!!!

CROSS AND ITS PLACE IN THE LIFE OF A STUDENT

BY: DOMINIC E.B. ANYALAGBUNA, (adebse@gmail.com).

1.0.        In the Beginning…:

Undeniably, cross is both a truth and a fact at the same time! The veracity of this facticity of cross, indeed, finds sufficient significance inter alia in its centrality in the life of a student. Hence, cross as a truth-fact or fact-truth, has almost lost its unique meaning in the lives of many students of our contemporary era. From the ancient times, cross has been designated with difficulty. But, with the salvation of mankind wrought through Christ, it came to symbolize Christianity. At this point, a new dimension of the ancient connotation for cross was reinforced. Due to this, cross has also been contextualized in relation to the students as hard work, discomfort, delayed gratification, sleepless nights, determination, inconveniences and its affiliations. So, studying is a cross that must, ipso facto, be positively accepted just as Christ did for the greater good of mankind. Consequently, it is in this sense that this paper tries to find the place of cross in the life of a student. Thus, the questions become: What is the students’ attitude to cross? How have they viewed the cross? Has cross any role to play in the students’ academic pursuit? In other words, what is the place of cross in the life of a student? With emphasis based on these questions, this essay will strive to attempt at proffering some answers.

Positive Action

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