The decision of the House of Representatives to investigate the discriminatory cut-off marks for admissions into Federal Government Colleges (FGCs) has renewed the debate about the elevation of the federal character principle above merit. The issue also raises a question on whether some states are really educationally disadvantaged.
Though the admissions policy of the 104 Federal Government Colleges (FGCs), also known as Unity Schools, has been in existence for over 40 years, concerns about the discriminatory cut-off marks for states have always been a contentious issue. Many parents find it difficult to believe that their children who did well in the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) may not be admitted because of where they come from, while those with “ridiculously” low marks are admitted because they are from “educationally disadvantaged” states.
Last week, Hon Afam Ogene, who represents Anambra State in the House of Representatives, Abuja, drew the attention of his colleagues to this anomaly during plenary.
To gain admission into the Unity Schools, the cut-off mark system requires candidates from states in the Southeast, Southwest to score significantly higher marks than their counterparts from the North or those states tagged “educationally-less-developed states (ELDS) in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO).
For instance, while candidates from Anambra State must score at least 139, which is the highest for any state, those from Jigawa need 44 marks to qualify for admission into the colleges. Yobe has the lowest cut-off, two. Other states with low cut-off marks are: Taraba (3), Zamfara (4), Kebbi (9) and Sokoto (9).
To be representational of Nigeria as conceived by Gen Yakubu Gowon when the Unity Schools were started in the 60s, each college admits based on the following criteria: 30 per cent on merit; 30 per cent, state quota; 30 per cent, environment; and 10 per cent exigency.
Explaining the quota policy, the Principal of King’s College, Lagos, Otunba Dele Olapeju, said the 30 per cent admitted on merit can gain admission into the colleges of their choice, irrespective of their states of origin if they excel well above the cut-off mark of their states. He said the state quota criterion requires the colleges to select 30 per cent of their candidates from each state of the federation; while the environment criterion is reserved for candidates from the host state/community of the college. The 10 per cent criterion is based on exigencies.
Nigerians are divided on the propriety of the discriminatory cut-off marks policy. While many told The Nation that the policy should be abolished because it does not allow for a level-playing field, others favour it because of the opportunity it provides for children from educationally backward states.
Olapeju said contrary to belief, candidates from the North with poor scores are not admitted into the college.
“What we do in selecting candidates admitted on state and environmental bases is to pick those with the best scores that applied from each state. None of the candidates scored zero,” he said.
Unused slots
Though the state admissions criterion stipulates that pupils be admitted from every state, this is not always the case. Many pupils no longer travel a far distance to attend Unity Schools. Many favour schools nearby. As a result, some states do not fill their quota.
Dr. Ahmaad Rufai of the Faculty of Education, Lagost State University (LASU) describes the unused slots as ‘educational wastage.’
“How could you just allocate slots which are hardly utilised to some sections of the country where there are others who are eligible but can’t just fill them because of the prevailing quota system? It is simply a way of compromising standards and giving room to mediocres,” he said.
Despite the cut-off marks favouring northerners, a group, Tambarin Arewa Development Association in Lagos, is complaining that pupils from the North are denied access to the Unity Schools as their quotas are given to southerners. In a statement signed by Mustapha Ibrahim Mai-Gandi, the group said: “The merit quota is usually taken by up candidates of southern states due to their educational advantage. However, northern states are equally short- changed under the state quota criterion that is supposed to be shared among the 36 states based on their cut-off marks. It is discovered that most of the students admitted under this criterion are from the South.
“It is very common and amazing to see Ikechukwu or Adewunmi or Esther taking up the Sokoto or Yobe State slots whereas the said candidates have no link whatsoever with those states. An example of this anomaly can be seen in the admission list of Queen’s College and King’s College, Lagos over the last six or seven years. In fact, this year’s admission into the two schools both at JS & SS levels points to the same direction.
“As regards the issue of merit quota, we equally discovered that some candidates from the North are equally shortchanged under this criterion after meeting the merit quota requirement. A typical example is the case of a JS1 candidate from Kebbi State (Nasiru Munira Aisha) who scored 165 marks out of 200 in the Common Entrance Examination.
“With this result, such candidate clearly qualifies for the merit list, but instead she was offered admission under Kebbi State quota slot at Queen’s College. This clearly stops other qualified candidates from Kebbi to make the state quota. In fact, we have candidates from the same Kebbi State that met the State Quota requirement but were not offered admission as a result of this.
“We are of the opinion that even if those states affected did not fill any candidate for such examination or do not meet the admission requirement, their slots could be filled by other qualified candidates from their zone or other means of filling their slots other than quota will be found,” it said.
Reacting to the group’s claims, Olapeju said parents from other parts of the country fill in northern states for their children to take advantage of the low cut-off marks and gain admission. He said the issue is tricky and requires the school to be careful because of constitutional provisions that allow them to claim a state where they were born as theirs.
“This issue can be very tricky because of the constitutional provision that if someone has lived in a state for long and had all his children there, he can claim the place as the state of origin.
“Some parents use this trick. They claim other states for their children because of the low cut-off marks,” he said.
However, he said efforts are made to determine whether the pupils are really from the states they claim.
Proponents of cut-off mark policy
Chairman of the King’s College Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Mr Emmanuel Oriakhi said the cut-off mark issue is exaggerated. Like Olapeju, he said nobody is admitted from educationally-disadvantaged states with poor scores. He said the number admitted on this basis is negligible and should not be made an issue.
He said the Federal Character principle has to exist for the schools to fulfil the purpose of admitting pupils from all states. This notwithstanding, he said, it does not affect merit.
“This idea of the cut-off mark is being misrepresented. People are now looking at the extremes – like comparing a candidate who scored 130 to one who scored zero. There is nothing like a candidate with two marks. There has to be differential grades because of the Federal Character principle. That does not mean that merit is being jeopardised. The number of those admitted from these zones is insignificant. For instance, nobody that scores less than 100 from any state is admitted at King’s College. Nobody can be admitted on the cut-off mark of two. The cut-off mark for any state is about 160 and above. But there is usually concession for those from educationally-less developed states,” he said.
If the goal of admitting pupils from all over Nigeria is to be achieved, Olapeju said merit cannot be the sole criterion as performance in the NCEE has consistently shown that candidates from some states outperformed others.
“For instance, in the last examination, out of 6,000 candidates that made the national cut-off, Anambra State had the lion’s share. Between Imo and Anambra, they took a sixth of the national merit. You cannot blame them for being brilliant. However, if all Anambra candidates are admitted, there will be no Unity Colleges,” he said.
The renewed interest in the policy after so many years came as a surprise to some people. At the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) in Abuloma, Rivers State, the principal refused to speak on the issue. However, a worker said: “These press people are always looking for someone to sack from work. Is it today that that policy came up? I wonder why they are just realising that that policy is very discriminatory. It has been there and if our people have been tolerating it all these years why are they agitating against it now.”
Mrs Pat Kodu, who retired from one of the colleges, also wondered at the interest.
She asked: “Why are our people just raising eyebrows against this policy now? It was put in place when the Unity Schools were established and nobody carried placards against it then. Why now?”
Many parents, teachers and stakeholders are satisfied with the discriminatory cutoff arrangement as they believe it allows those who would ordinarily not have entered the colleges to gain admission.
A parent who refused to be named and whose child attends one of the schools in Sokoto, said what favoured his child for admission was the environmental factor.
“I am from Edo State by origin and I happen to give birth to all my children in Sokoto where I have stayed for over 30 years. This is what qualified my child to secure admission, despite the cut off marks of my state,” he said.
Hon Ogene may be miffed that Anambra candidates have to work harder, but to Governor Peter Obi, it is evidence that the state is doing well educationally.
Speaking at the distribution of N2.53 billion rehabilitation grant to all public schools, Obi said the good performance was evidence that reforms in public and missionary schools as well as private schools made Anambra pupils come tops in the NCEE.
Chief Abdulsalam Suleiman, Chairman, FGC, Sokoto Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), believes that the policy is not meant to discriminate but to correct the inequality in the standard of education as well as discourage the existing gap nationwide.
He said rather than dwell on the discriminatory policy, stakeholders should fast-track development in disadvantaged states by providing adequate and necessary facilities and qualified manpower in schools to make the system more attractive and competitive.
“I believe a committee was set up to advise the government before the policy was enforced. It is not meant to punish others. We are all Nigerians and no section of the country will want to remain at a disadvantage. It is for the good of the country”, he said.
Alhaji Muhammed Ahmed, Chairman, School-Based Management Committee, FGGC, Bakori, Kaduna State, and a retired Director of Education, described the policy as logical, considering the North/South education development divide.
“We have several FGCs across the country. As you know, Nigeria is a federal structure with differences in educational attainment. I think it is logical based on Federal Character to relate the performance of say Kwara State with that of Borno State. For example, western education started in Badagry in 1841, while in the North here, western education started in 1907. Study the difference. So, that cut off mark is logical and fair. You cannot compare the performance of a child in Katsina or Jigawa state with a child in Lagos. There is a big difference and so, I think it is fair to reduce the cut off mark. The student who is coming with a low performance should strive to catch up with others when he gets to school and ask many questions while trying to identify the intelligence in him,” he said.
Though not a fan of the Federal Character principle, Vice-Chancellor of the Sokoto State University Prof Nuhu Yaqub said the admissions policy should remain to help the goal of unifying Nigeria.
Opponents of the cut-off mark policy
For those who dislike the policy, they argue that it promotes mediocrity. They said despite favouring ELDS for decades, those states are yet to develop educationally.
Former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Edo State Dr. Osagie Obayuwana said the cut-off mark policy, like the federal character principle, only complicates Nigeria’s problems.
He said: “We must not throw merit overboard in attaining federal character. We cannot continue to use federal character to assure people of access. The incentive must be provided for people to strive and excel. The system suffers when mediocrity turns out to be the product of our educational processes. Those who are given preferential consideration as far as admission is concerned ought to appreciate they are going to meet challenges and they have some catching up to do so that we are not faced with a situation when somebody gets admission on a quota basis, they will be among the first to get appointment on quota basis. There is no doubt that part of the challenges Nigeria faces at the moment is mediocrity rule traceable to quota and federal character business.”
For Njom Nyambi, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Cross River State wing, ELDS do not exist, so, the cut-off should be jettisoned.
“The people are just trying to be funny. There is no educationally disadvantaged state. All these pupils are the same. The situation is just like depriving some people of their rights and if the Unity schools should have an admissions policy it should be uniform throughout the country. They should not give priority to some people and some other people are treated as if they are second class citizens. I feel it is not fair on some pupils who have to study so hard to score high marks to gain admission while some other pupils elsewhere just get through for scoring very low marks. Today, there are so many professors in the North and they are still calling them disadvantaged states. It is not correct. Everyone should be treated on the same pedestal for the sake of unity,” he said.
The FGC, Sokoto PTA Chairman, Chief Suleiman, also pointed out that there is no scientific proof to the term “educationally disadvantaged”, describing the term as derogatory. The issue, he said, had been given political status rather then academic, arguing that many northerners have performed well academically.
“It is to a large extent derogatory to peg a cut off mark as low as nine for a state against others with 130 as entry mark into Unity Schools. Even in the North, Sokoto in particular has produced the world’s best automobile designer, Jelani Aliyu, who went through the conventional public school. People like Prof Ardo, a Special Adviser to Governor Wamakko attended University of Benin (UNIBEN); Prof Jibril Aminu won almost all prizes as a mathematician during his days in the university. It is just like the hierarchy of social or class status where we have the rich, middle and the lower classes. The last two categories will want to strive through available means to belong to the top for development”, he said.
Constance Meju, a journalist, who once taught in a Unity School, said the policy should be scrapped because if all these years the people from the North and other educationally-disadvantaged states have not been able to catch up, it means they do not appreciate the gesture.
Former Commissioner for Education in Kaduna State Matamaki Tom Maiyashi believes that the segregation in cut-off point for entry into the colleges is just a way of scoring cheap political points by politicians and those saddled with the responsibility of running the educational system. Maiyasho believes that the policy will erode the principle surrounding the establishment of the Unity Schools.
“The concept of Unity Schools emerged post Nigeria civil war. At that time, the question of unity was paramount because we were seeking ways of uniting the country and the school socialisation system was considered vital in that regard. It was thought that if you bring youths from across the country, their interaction as they grow together, they will look at Nigeria from a broader perspective. That was the cardinal principle of establishing Unity Schools. At that time, the standard was quite high and if you go back and look at the first and second generation products of those schools, you will understand. What has happened over time is deliberate. The unity of Nigeria is paramount and that should guide your principle of maintaining standard. Right now, the standard has fallen and you are even dealing with a mess and even if you segregate, you are really pushing these children into a mess because the standard is not there,” he said.
A teacher, Johnson Kalu, who teaches in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, described the policy as one of the ways the North is trying to destroy the education system, adding that they can never catch up with other parts of the country educationally through this means.
Kalu said when other states were busy educating their children and building schools, the people of the North were busy doing other things. “What this means is that people from the South will go to the North and fill up their quota for them, you cannot stop the people from the south from going to school under any guise,” he said.
He condemned Tambuwal for not agreeing to Ogene’s suggestion that the Federal Ministry of Education should be asked to suspend the obnoxious admission policy which is not in the best interest of the country.
A parent from Abia State, Mr Uka Isaac, knows his child who took the examination would have it tough given the high cut-off. He said the policy will not stop the South from outperforming the North.
“There is nothing they will do that would make them to stop the people from the southern part of the country from going to school; the least they will do is to make us to put our children in private schools. You do not expect me to ask my child to sit at home for another year just because of one stupid government policy, which is designed to make us wait for people who will never catch up with us educationally, even if we wait for another 10 years for them to catch up.”
A parent in Akwa Ibom State, Mrs. Uduak Effiong, whose daughter, Blessing, is seeking admission into FGC, Ikot Ekpene, is also angry about the disparity cut-off marks.
“For instance, how could the Federal Ministry of Education apportion 123 cut-off marks to male and female pupils from Akwa Ibom State while Zamfara State is given four marks for males and two for females? It is an injustice and it must be corrected by federal lawmakers,” she said.
In his reaction, the Programme Director of Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, Rivers State, Mr Steve Obodoekwe, said the policy encourages disunity.
“The people who made that policy should bury their faces in shame because how can you justify the fact that a pupil from Anambra State is supposed to score as high as 139 to gain admission while his or her counterpart from Yobe State only has to score two marks to get the same admission.
“The policy was put in place to enable the so-called educationally disadvantaged states to catch up with the Igbo who are considered naturally sharp and hardworking. But over the years, these educationally disadvantaged states instead of catching up are retrogressing and so the best thing is for the government to scrap it and let us have a uniform admission policy. “
What does the future hold?
Last week, Tambuwal directed the House Committee on Education, chaired by Hon Aminu Suleiman, to investigate the cut-off and quota system used for admission of pupils into the colleges.
When The Nation asked Hon Suleiman about the investigation when he visited Lagos for the stakeholders’ forum organised by NECO, last Friday, he declined comments on the committee’s findings.
“What the House did was to raise an observation based on complaints received from members of the general public. And I have been mandated to go and find out and report back to the House; therefore, I am handicapped now. I cannot discuss on this issue since I am basically responsible for the investigation. I won’t let the cat out of the bag yet,” he said.
