Category: Editorial

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an international English language proficiency test for all those desirous of working, studying or migrating to some other English-speaking countries. It tests the ability of students to read, listen, write and speak the language effectively. Even countries with English as a first or second language are often required to take the exams once there is a requirement for it, except in cases where the individual is below the age of 16.

The IELTS exam is managed by three institutions globally, the British Council, IDP IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL). The tests are usually done in special centres across the world and are a requirement for some universities, professional bodies, government agencies and immigration authorities of countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States and the United Kingdom.

Sometimes, the required marks for a candidate differ from country to country or even institution to institution. Curiously however, there is no educational qualification to take the IELTS exams.  People with some learning or hearing disabilities are also eligible but they must notify the exam body about three months ahead so that their special needs can be met.

The examination fees differ from country to country and it is not cheap by any standards. In Nigeria, for instance, it costs about N85,000. This is, in some cases, higher than the annual tuition in some tertiary institutions in the country. Another curious thing is that even though it is a proficiency in speaking, hearing, reading and writing in English test, each of the certificates lasts a mere two years after which a candidate, if needed, would take another exam  under same conditions as in the past.

Some 40,000 individuals in Nigeria have signed a petition at Change.Org requesting that countries stop demanding IELTS exams from Nigerians seeking to study, work or emigrate to other countries that request the certificate. Having to re-sit the exam if a candidate was successful at being admitted the first time seems to them an unfair treatment, given that Nigeria as a former British colony and member of the Commonwealth has English as the official language and in some cases children even speak it as a first language.

While we acknowledge that proficiency in any language is necessary for communication at both social and official levels, the case of Nigeria is different in this regard. Many literate Nigerians seeking admission, work or immigration services have had English as the language of instruction in school and as such must not be treated as though they can only communicate in their mother tongue. Even if the exams must stay, there must be some modifications. The fees must be reduced and the certificate must in the most part be treated as a certificate that can be acquired just once. Measures should, however, be put in place to help coach those who need English proficiency skills.

It is both ridiculous and seemingly insensitive to charge exorbitant fees from citizens of poor countries whose lives are already hard enough. The fees for IELTS, as they stand, are almost double the annual tuition fees in some Nigerian universities. Sometimes the students are on scholarships based on their indigence; it is then very economically contradictory to expect a brilliant but indigent student to lose an admission space because he or she cannot afford the IELTS fees that they had managed to pay in the past but have to pay again even though they passed the exam the last time. And their proficiency did not diminish, which means they are already qualified if technically the rules presume otherwise. It will be a disservice to our global development.

The citizens signing the Stop IELTS examinations in Nigeria see the fees as a rip-off, they consider the validity of the certificate too short at two years. We expect that in a more globalised and tech-savvy world as we have now, the organisers of the exams can key into the online language lesson style to effortlessly coach students or anyone in need of proficiency in English. Many languages are now being taught and learnt online at minimal cost and English is no different. We expect the education and foreign affairs ministries in the country to step in and do the needful before issues go from bad to worse. There must be no room for exploitative behaviour in a 21st century world with all the socio-economic issues in the poor countries.

Sex seems a major lubricant of whatever senseless struggle bandits terrorising parts of the country think they are prosecuting. This is the inevitable conclusion, given their penchant for capturing young girls and women that they conscript into their harem (or is it haram?) to assuage their seemingly insatiable desire for sex. From the Chibok girls to Dapchi, etc., the bandits have messed up the lives of many of these young girls, some of whom they had turned to mothers, prematurely. That, in spite of the many girls and women in their camps, they still request for young women that they pay for sexual pleasure would seem to suggest that they feel there is a difference between girls and women captured and converted to sex slaves, and their free counterparts in the villages and towns.

The arrest  of a housewife, Maryam Abubakar, who resides in Rugar Hanwa in Sabon Gari Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State by the Intelligence Response Unit (IRU) of the Nigeria Police Force on December 21, last year, has added another dimension to the seemingly intractable war against terrorism. The woman had reportedly confessed to luring women, including her daughters and nieces to the bandits in the forests in Kaduna State for sexual pleasure. She reportedly said the women are ferried there on motorbikes and that she is paid N20,000 for her efforts. But Abubakar is not alone. Other persons arrested for the same reason are one Fatima Jibrin and her boyfriend, Muslim Abubakar, of Sakadadi area also in Sabon Gari. These are for the known; it is possible many other people plying such illicit trade are still very much around, just that they have not yet been caught.

While it is intriguing that people with all the parameters for coercion and enslavement, and who indeed have a lot of free women in captivity and at their beck and call would still crave for ‘imported’ women that they are ready and willing to pay for sex, it is perhaps more bewildering that a woman would willingly take her nieces and her own daughters to bandits for sexual gratification exchange for cash. We have seen instances of people trafficking in people to make money, but this would be a new dimension to human trafficking.

Could such a practice be going on because those engaging in it do not know that the activities of the bandits are injurious to the wellbeing of the larger society? Or, is it because of the money involved that they cannot just be bothered about what they are doing, in so far as it brings them money? Or is it a reaction to their feeling of alienation by the state, real or perceived, and therefore a demonstration of their support for the bandits’ activities? In other words do those involved in such illicit trade even see the bandits as the outlaws that they are, or see them as change agents?

Read Also: ISWAP kills two, abducts 17 in fresh Chibok attack

These and many other questions would have agitated the minds of Nigerians, after reading the stories.

But we need not look far to know why things like these are happening in the country. Apart from the reported confession of Abubakar who plies the trade using her own blood as sex objects and gets a paltry N20,000 for her efforts, one of those arrested on suspicion that she had been having an affair with the bandits’ kingpin in the forest, Jummai  Ibrahim, reportedly said she submitted to the bandits’ leader in order to protect her father and children from their wrath. According to her, the bandits had threatened to kill them, even after rustling the family’s cattle.

In other words, the illicit business thrives because of economic as well as security issues. While none of these justifies involvement of any rational human being in such illegal activities, they are still issues that the government must address. What is N20,000 that someone would now take her own daughters to criminals for sexual satisfaction in exchange for cash, despite all the safety and health implications? It should also interest the government that its inability to provide the very basic of its functions, security, is making some people to seek protection from people that can be described as devil incarnates.

Indeed, the story, taken alongside previous other stories, would seem to provide a clue as to why banditry, terrorism and other criminal acts appear not to be in a hurry to leave our shores. Bandits and other criminals, just like all living things, need oxygen to thrive. When deprived of it, they die. There are basic human needs that qualify for oxygen that bandits also need to survive. They need money, food, steady supplies of arms, etc. When the sources of all of these are not blocked, and they also have women to satisfy their sexual urge, there is no reason they would not be encouraged to continue with their nefarious activities.

So, the security agencies should take advantage of the information provided by some of the people that have been arrested to get to the root of these critical supply needs of the bandits. Is it not possible that some of these people are serving as informants to the bandits? Terrorism is not something to toy with. It must be defeated at all cost because of the huge price the country is paying and would still have to pay, now and in the future.

No doubt the insecurity that has befallen our country continues to worsen, and unless urgent measures are taken to stem the tide, the situation will deteriorate. While there are extant laws limiting the use and importation of firearms by private persons, such as the Firearms Act, there has been a clamour by security experts for more stringent laws and measures to rein in the abundant firearms and ammunition in unauthorised hands across the country.

To achieve this, there are currently executive and private bills in the National Assembly, and we wonder what is delaying their passage. Is it that members of the National Assembly are oblivious of the state of near anarchy prevailing in parts of the country? According to a report, such bills include: “the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Bill, 2021 (SB 794)” sponsored by the executive branch.

There is also the “the National Commission for the Prohibition of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Est. etc.) Bill, 2019” sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi, and another similar bill “the National Commission Against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Est) Bill, 2020” sponsored by the Majority Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya. In the lower chamber of the National Assembly, similar bills are also pending for legislative action.

They include “the National Commission Against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons Bill, 2019” which was sponsored by the Majority Whip, Mohammed Monguno. Also pending is “the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (Prohibition) Bill, 2019” sponsored by former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara. The report also listed “the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons Bill, 2021” jointly sponsored by the Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Whip, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, respectively.

Read Also: National Assembly proposes Bill against ‘Ponzi’ schemes

Furthermore, the report highlighted a query in the ‘Auditor-General for the Federation’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Year Ended 31st December, 2019’ that “the Force Headquarters could not account for 178,459 firearms, out of which 88,078 are AK-47 rifles.” There is also the report of several caches of arms and ammunitions seized by the Nigeria Customs Services from private persons.

According to the spokesman for the Nigerian Police Force, Commissioner of Police Frank Mba “at least 1,889 weapons and 52,577 rounds of live ammunition were recovered between January and December 2021,” and they include “General Purpose Machine Guns, Rocket-Propelled Grenade, variants of Avtomat Kalashnikov, with the popular ones being AK-47 and AK-49, and some locally-fabricated weapons.” These statistics reeled out in the report are very scary, and we wonder if members of the National Assembly are immune to the implications on the safety of the general public.

No doubt, while there are extant laws in our statute books which make it unlawful for unauthorised persons to bear or import the types of arms described in the report, the proliferation of such arms is on the increase. With the ongoing war with members of the Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, in the north-eastern part of the country, the brutal banditry in the north-west, the activities of the unknown gunmen in the south-east and armed robbery and kidnappings across the country, the proliferation of arms has become a national emergency.

Unfortunately, while the federal police is clearly overwhelmed by the challenges, the Federal Government has refused to sanction state police, to complement the federal police. Again, as acknowledged by President Muhammadu Buhari, our borders are porous. So, if the proposed laws will help to stop the slide into anarchy, we urge their expeditious passage. As a matter of fact, some of the bills may be harmonised because the importance is not necessarily in having many laws on arms proliferation but in enforcing their provisions to the letter. Meanwhile, the Federal Government must deal with the proliferation of arms and ammunition, even with the extant laws. There is no doubt that scrupulous application, even of the extant laws, would reduce the incidence of arms proliferation in the country.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, just called for the amendment of Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution, to raise the minimum stipulation for elective offices, beyond the present senior secondary school (SSS) certificate.

He declared in a lecture he gave at the 52nd convocation of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, on January 17: “The National Assembly needs to look into Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution for persons aspiring to be future President of Nigeria and other top offices, including the National Assembly as against the current minimum requirement of a secondary school certificate or its equivalent.”

Without much ado, that is a right and fair call — and the reason would appear very obvious.  The modern world bustles and bristles with innovations, almost at the speed of light.  To cope with all of that, to thoroughly understand them, and to grapple with complex concepts, sound education is key.

Leadership is all about grappling with all these complexities and yet delivering transformative governance, which goal is to ensure economic growth, which yields overall people’s development and peaks in sustainable prosperity.

Charting these graphs, in a constantly changing world, is a stiff challenge.  Yet, very sound education gives global leaders the tool to deal with that challenge, and make their peoples and countries competitive.

It is stating the obvious, therefore, that other things being equal, those who have at least a first degree (or equivalent diplomas) are likelier to cope with the rigorous demands of modern governance, much more than those with the lower senior secondary school leaving certificate.

Still, despite the present constitutional peg, the reality is that the bulk of players in the political bureaucracy, elective or appointive, boast certificates higher than secondary school certificates.  Indeed, many boast advanced degrees, post-graduate professional diplomas (as the MBA, for instance), not to talk of a slew of PhDs and other professional certification in Law, Medicine, Engineering, Journalism, Accounting, Architecture, etc.

Read Also: It’s time to review educational qualification for political offices, says Gbajabiamila

So, how come then that Nigeria is still perceived to be not run by its best 11, even with the slew of degrees and chartered professionals?  It would appear simple because the political players, as the bulk of Nigerians have generally tended to embrace the learning that academic degrees confer but shun the character that it must impose.

One is nothing without the other — and that is the crisis of character, of probity, of integrity facing Nigeria today.  Good old basic honesty appears no longer the age-old soul of business.

There is absolutely no doubt: the Constitution must be amended to raise the minimum threshold for elective offices to at least the first degree or the equivalent Higher National Diploma (HND).

But more importantly: Nigerians, bursting with new learning which better all-round education confers, should manifest more of the better character such a development ought to impose.  Indeed, the tragedy of contemporary Nigeria is that penchant to cut corners and make wealth without sweat.

It’s a scandal of humongous proportions that one who boasts a slew of degrees thinks little of smashing the public till and helping himself or herself with the common wealth.  This is the current reality of politics and business in Nigeria — and it’s very sad, indeed.

So, as the Speaker pushes his new and welcome idea, he should also make it clear that degrees and diplomas, without the concomitant integrity and character, is nothing but gold reduced to a mere tinsel.

The move for higher educational qualifications for political office should automatically translate into a push for better sanity and character in the public space.  If one does not yield the other, then raising the qualifications would not have translated to much. But Nigerians must help the process by waking up to their responsibility of putting their leaders on their toes. They have been too lethargic about issues of governance.

Other things being equal, Nigerians should soon begin to see a downward trend in the price of rice. This is sequel to the commissioning of one million bags of rice paddy by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 18. The rice pyramids, containing about 115,000 bags of 100kg each and said to be the biggest in Africa, were built with one million bags of rice paddy planted and harvested from states across the country under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The pyramids had expectedly remained a centre of attraction since mid-December 2021 when their building commenced at the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industries on Airport Road, Abuja.

An obviously elated President Buhari not only predicted the fall in the price of the commodity, he also praised the CBN for initiating the programme, which is the brain behind the government’s agricultural revolution. According to President Buhari, “I am aware that the bags of paddy will be moving straight from here to rice milling plants across Nigeria, which will lead to the release of processed rice to the markets by the rice millers. The measure will aid our efforts at reducing the price of rice in Nigeria.”

But the president is not alone in this optimism of an imminent crash in the price of rice.

Shehu Muazu, Chairman Pyramid Sub-Committee of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) said the rice pyramids show that local production of food is possible. The rice would be allocated to rice processors who will process it and sell at discounted price. Hopefully, “This will lead to drastic reduction in price once it starts rolling into the market”, Muazu said. The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who was at the commissioning praised the tenacity of purpose of the farmers who defied all odds, including great risks to their lives, to produce the staple.

We understand the basis of their collective happiness. The skyrocketing price of rice, a staple food in the country, has been a source of concern to Nigerians and the government alike. A 50kg bag of the commodity which was selling for about N10,000 when the Buhari administration took over now sells for about N28,000. An apparently worried government set in motion some machineries to reverse the trend. For over a year, it shut its borders with neighbouring Benin Republic, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, in order to curb smuggling of the commodity as well as other commodities, to protect local producers. The CBN, through the ABP also made available hefty sums of money as loans to rice farmers, while some state governments also initiated various rice schemes, either as solo efforts or in collaboration with some other states. For instance, Lagos and Kebbi states teamed up to produce Lake Rice.

Read Also: Rice revolution: CBN targets N20,000 per bag

All these efforts were beginning to yield results when, suddenly, the insecurity in the land threw spanner in the works. Farmers were not spared by all manner of criminals who almost took the nation hostage. In 2020 alone, about 44 of such farmers were murdered on their farms in Benue State. The incessant attacks on farmers in several parts of the country inevitably triggered a food crisis which in turn caused inflation of food prices.

So, if there are renewed efforts to turn the tide, particularly with regard to rice production, it should be well acknowledged.

Although some people are wondering why the government had to organise such an elaborate publicity glitz to advertise its achievement on rice production, we do not mind how it is done. For us, it is the result that matters. Here, we cannot but mention the cynicism of the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is in the vanguard of those who believe that President Buhari had been conned to launch what the party called “a pyramid of lies”.

Much as we acknowledge the cynics’ position, especially with the politicisation of virtually everything under the sun in Nigeria, we want to give the government the benefit of the doubt. Moreover, we do not know why rice producers would want to team up with politicians to deceive the public, especially on such a sensitive matter that borders on their own survival. Indeed, RIFAN chairman Aminu Goroyo’s revelation at the launch that  ”What you see here today is a trickle of what we produced in the last wet season. Only  0.05 per cent of what was cultivated is what is being displayed” would seem assuring enough that the rice pyramids are real and its price cannot be the same when the quantum of rice being touted as having been produced hits the market. So, it is only a matter of time for the true position of things to emerge on the claims and counter-claims.

But there are lessons to learn, especially by the Federal Government, one of which is that never again should insecurity be treated with kid gloves, no matter whose horse is gored. There is no denying the fact that if insecurity had not assumed the monstrous dimension it assumed, Nigeria would have gone far, especially with the renewed impetus of the government to increase rice production.

In an ironic twist of fate, two of the abducted Chibok school girls, Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu, who had the courage to take a leap of faith as 276 of them journeyed through the forest on the night of their abduction on April 14, 2014, have graduated with honours from Southern University in the United States. One graduated with a degree in Social Work while the other earned a degree in Legal Studies – both ironically graduated on April 30, 2021, a month that signifies a lot in their young lives.

As victims of the insurgent group in Northern Nigeria whose mantra is, “western education is forbidden”, their academic achievements in America defies the insurgents’ puerile rhetoric and crass hypocrisy about education, given that most of them have some form of western education and have been employing technology and the internet in their terrorist actions.

However, these two girls are not the only escapees who have been doing well academically, especially in the United States where EMC, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), founded by Mr. and Mrs Gadzama and headed in the US by the indomitable Emmanuel Ogebe has been very actively involved in fighting not only for the Chibok victims but is known to have lived his life fighting for justice and  equity for the girl-child and minority groups in Northern Nigeria. Some of them have graduated either from high school or college. Mr. Ogebe has worked so hard to fix these girls in foster homes and getting them scholarships.

We commend their humanitarian efforts, persistence in a charity work that has exposed him in particular to all forms of danger and harassment by some past Nigerian governments that even led to his going on exile to the United States. These girls’ success is heartwarming.

We equally commend the girls who have remained committed to education that they were seeking before the abduction. To have even attempted to escape at the risk of death shows the indomitable human survivalist spirit. They literally took a leap of faith and, as Joy narrated, they chose to jump to death than be taken by their abductors; their courage is a lesson for humanity. The American Embassy in Nigeria acted with utmost human spirit in promptly processing their visas and for funding the foster parenting system that provided home away from home for the girls.

The academic achievements of the girls is again evidence of a determination to defy the odds. Joy had in an interview with the GMC TV  network expressed her joy at graduating from college after being told she could never make it academically, “It was exciting to walk on that stage after being told you can’t do it” she said. That determination is inspirational. As they say, ‘heaven helps those who help themselves’; first they had the intuition to jump down from the truck, now they have achieved success and defied the Boko Haram rhetoric.

The success of these Chibok escapees almost a decade after the global embarrassment for the Nigerian security situation says a lot about the education and security system in the country. There have been more abductions across the country, but more so of pupils and students, some of who have died in the process. Leah Sharibu is still being held years after her mates were released. The abductions of students has dire consequences for a country with the global record of the highest number of out-of-school children at more than 13 million children.

Being the poverty capital of the world has a strong correlation with the literacy level of citizens in a 21st century world where ideas and technology rule. Nigerian governments at all levels seem not to realise the nexus between education and development. The Northern region has always felt the impact of  low literacy rates, especially of the girl-child. The Chibok incident and subsequent killings and abductions only worsen matters because any good parent in the present circumstance would prefer a living illiterate child to one killed or abducted from school.

Some of the Chibok girls were released by their abductors some years back and there are equally reports that some had escaped, based on personal efforts. There seems to be no follow-ups on their welfare beyond the temporary media glitz of picture taking with some government officials. We wonder if they are getting the medical and social welfare therapies they deserve to help them lead a seemingly normal life. If another country like the United States can be so benevolent to our citizens, what are we doing to our own on our soil?

Mr. and Mrs Gadzama must not only be commended for assisting the less fortunate amongst us. The government must look beyond politicians and business people when it comes to national honours and awards. This would not be a favour for their selfless sacrifices for humanity but a sign of gratitude for their humanitarian works. That is a way of encouraging citizens to be humanely active in fostering human flourishing.

The scholarships that some of the Chibok survivors are enjoying in the US from individuals and colleges is equally a lesson in funding education by those who value the human community. It is a different ballgame in Nigeria where governments are either not interested or even the little scholarships available are often not well funded or awarded on nepotistic basis. In some ways, most students access these international scholarships and ultimately the Nigerian nation becomes a loser as most of those who found the scholarships very reliving of economic and social burdens often never come back to the country.

The American Volunteer Education Adviser, Deanna, who helped with the scholarships for the Chibok girls must be commended by Nigeria. Her work as a volunteer is a lesson in humanitarian service.

It is an international public relations disaster that in all the works of EMC, there are no records of either state or federal input, or even appreciation for the jobs being done for Nigerian citizens. It says more than we can imagine about the value the country places on each citizen, especially the girl-child; and given the girl-child literacy level in the North, the picture gets clearer about the underdevelopment in the region.

We commend the good-spirited Nigerians for their work through the NGO, the American government, the foster parents, all schools that offered all the Chibok girls scholarship, and the media that has kept faith and keeps documenting their progress. We just want to know the fate of the remaining abducted students of Chibok and all those pupils and students still in captivity. What actions have been taken to address school and public security beyond political rhetorics and physical renovations of the school? The world keeps watching.