Juliet Ochenje Jacob
The year 2023 was a very busy year in the education sector of the country, albeit for the wrong reasons. What began as a quiet year for the sector was whipped into absurdity with the incident of Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme.
Ejikeme’s JAMB Score Saga
Ejikeme, an SS3 student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, made the headlines after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) called her out for fraudulently manipulating her UTME score from 249 to 362. According to JAMB, the 19 year old had falsely paraded herself as UTME top scorer for 2023. What seemed like a happy and joyful development, when Ejikeme broadcasted her supposed score in the JAMB examination, gradually peeled into an unmitigated disaster for the youngster whose real score of 249 was in itself, a fantastic performance by any standard. In proclaiming herself as the highest scorer, she had claimed her score was 362.
*Mmesoma Ejikeme
Excited by the sterling performance, Innoson Motor Manufacturing Company, Anambra State Government and a few other individuals announced various categories of scholarship for Ejikeme. The news of the scholarships announcements had barely touched the ground, when the truth of her fraudulent claim took over. Joy soon gave way to a bale of controversies for the youngster, her parents, her school and eventually, the Anambra State Government. After a wave of investigations by the Government, JAMB and some private detectives, the truth came out – that Ejikeme had deliberately, apparently goaded on by her parents, falsified her score. The shame of the moment was too heavy for the young girl to bear. She belatedly owned up to her fraudulent act and apologised before a panel of the House of Representatives for her misdemeanour. It was indeed a bitter ending.
Interestingly, many public commentators described Ejikeme’s act as a indication of the breakdown in education and social values in the country. According to Sani Ubandoma, a retired School Principal living in Abuja, “what you see is a direct reflection of the total breakdown in educational and social values in the country, if not, why will a young intelligent girl still engage in acts like this? It is because our values have been destroyed by leaders of the country, the young girl, even intelligent, does not feel confident that her hard work is enough to take her to good life.”
“By the way, what are we saying when all the young girl sees are leaders with fake results getting elected into public office, we hear someone running for the highest office in the country, has questionable certificates, imagine that, so what do you expect from youngsters in the country?”
The sad incident of Elikeme ushered the country into many months of industrial actions, otherwise called strike. It was indeed a harvest of strikes, numbering to about four different strike actions at different times.
Harvest of Strikes, Rising Cost of Education
In September 2023, tertiary institutions across the country were thrown into waves of industrial actions called by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), over nearly 200% hike in tuition fees across the board at a time the parents and guardians were already finding it difficult to cope with the hardships pervading the country as a result of the removal of subsidy on petrol. ASUU argued and rightly too, that the hike was totally unacceptable in the circumstance.
As a result of the strike action, all public universities were closed for many months in a stretch. The hike in tuition, however, did not only happen in tertiary institutions. Most privately-owned secondary schools in the country also announced various percentages of hike, citing spirally cost of items and running costs occasioned by the removal of the subsidy on petrol.
*ASUU President, Osodoke
As students were about returning to school following the resolution of the strike action on hike in fees, the education sector was hit by another strike action, this time in solidarity with Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) over the beating of the National President of NLC by officials said to the working for the Imo State Government.
The wave of strike actions continued in pockets across the states following gripes between ASUU in state Universities across the country. The year seemed like a year of unending strike actions – as one is ending in one state, it is starting in another state.
‘Japa’ Hits Education Sector
2023 also marked the first year that foreign educational organisations came into the country, to recruit teachers directly within the country. Authorised recruitment agencies swooped on the country with mouth-watering incentives and wages. Teachers that were in their highest consideration for recruitment were those in mathematics, the sciences, English and French.
The recruitment drive followed an announcement by the UK government of shortfall in teachers in its schools. The announcement listed Nigeria as one of the eight countries it qualified to apply for positions. The call further opened the floodgate for Nigerian professional teachers to leave the country, a menace already depleting the number of teachers and lecturers available in the country.
This was bad news for a country already gnawed by a shortage of teachers. A national personnel audit by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in 2020, revealed a huge deficit of 277,537 teachers in the basic education sector – from the primary to junior secondary levels.
With many months of unpaid salaries and allowances, poor working environment and teaching aides, it did not surprise anyone that thousands of professional teachers smiled to the airport on their way to better welfare and work abroad.
“Sadly, Nigeria has reduced its teachers to a gallery of disillusioned and most poorly paid professionals. This is not how to treat the mother of all professions,” said Secretary-General, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dr Mike Ike Ene.
Exemption of Tertiary Institutions from IPPIS
Gloomy, it may have been for the education sector in 2023, but teachers in tertiary institutions are ending the year on a high with President Bola Tinubu’s announcement of the removal of their salaries from the IPPIS portal as long demanded by ASUU. With the removal, the welfare and wages of salaries of University lecturers now rest with each University Management, an autonomy ASUU has been fighting for.
Also sounding good for the Universities is the reversal of the policy of remittance of 40% of their income to the Federation Account, as it is case with all income generation agencies of government. With the change in policy, University Administration will now have a larger pool of resources to manage their institutions and cater for the research needs of their Faculties.
UNILAG, UNIlorin Most Sought After Universities in Nigeria
In 2023, the University of Ilorin (UNIlorin) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) top the list of the most sought-after universities for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).
