The Nation Newspaper

Tag: improvement

  • JAMB: There is room for improvement

    JAMB: There is room for improvement

    SIR: It will be largely unfair not to acknowledge and appreciate the innovations of the Professor Dibu Ojerinde-led Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB). A number of improvements are noticeable. First, the distribution of examination materials to students in the examination hall is a good one. This has to a large extent, prevented the hoarding of these materials by some banks or forms-selling centres as well grant fairness to all students through uniform use of same materials, e.g. calculator. As an observer of the examination exercise at a major centre in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, I saw that virtually everyone got the writing materials and calculators since these were needed for simple calculations. In recent years, many candidates have suffered gross disadvantage as some examination centers never allowed any kind of calculators, the simple, non-scientific ones inclusive, while others allowed them.

    Another improvement is the biometric verification of candidates. This has brought a sharp drop in the incidence of impersonation and similar malpractices.

    However, the largest room in the world remains the room for improvement JAMB cannot afford rest on its oars. The examination exercise is still rife with irregularities that push the motion for its scrapping. There is more to be done to prove the integrity of the body. Otherwise, how would one explain the fact that many students were seen scribbling answers in small sheets before the examinations started? Some corrupt officials must have smuggled copies of the question papers for unscrupulous purposes. Even though the questions are in various types, students can still find a way around this system. The scandalous representation of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in national newspapers a couple of weeks ago due to the leakage of its examination questions should have been a tip to the JAMB leadership to guard against the trend but it was not so to be. There is also a lot that needs be done as regards security at examination centres.

    Moreover, there were also gross errors in the printing of some of the question paper types. For example, the English paper type B that was brought to a major centre in Abuja (with thousands of candidates) did not have question number twenty two. Also, question numbers 83-86 were missing. Would students be marked down for questions they did not answer?

    Another issue is the unnecessary delay that precedes the kick-off of the examination. In a centre in Abuja, the examination kicked off at about 11:30am as against the normal starting time of 9am, even though students had started reporting since 6am. If we do not impress it on the younger generation that punctuality is the soul of business, what reason would they have not to end up showing up late to government work places in the future?

    As much as I do not campaign for the discontinuation of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, I also do call for reconstructive strategies to be adopted to trim off the excesses that plague the smooth conduct of the exercise. Granting autonomy to our universities by taking UTME off the table may not be the best for us at this level of development. A regulatory system is highly necessary to maintain some sanity in the education polity.

    • Joshua Oyeniyi

    Abuja

     

  • NECO records improvement in NOV/DEC SSCE results

    NECO records improvement in NOV/DEC SSCE results

    External candidates, who sat for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) in November/December last year, recorded a significant improvement in the examination.

    The results released in Minna yesterday by the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Prof. Promise Okpala, showed that 54.7 per cent credit passes were recorded in Mathematics, compared to the 44.7 per cent recorded in 2011. 33.89 per cent of the candidates, who sat for the examination, recorded credit passes in English language. Only 10 per cent passed the subject at the credit level in 2011.

    A breakdown of the result showed that 75,623 of the 83,755 candidates that registered for the examination, sat for it.

    Okpala said of this number, 25,630 or 33.89 per cent passed English language at the credit level and 41,228 candidates, (54.79 per cent) passed Mathematics at the credit level.

    In Commerce, candidates recorded 51.85 per cent credit passes, as against 40.35 per cent recorded last year. 16.16 per cent had credit passes in Government compared to 0.35 per cent in 2011, while in Economics, 33.57 per cent of the candidates had credit passes as against 30.26 per cent in 2011.

    Other subjects also recorded improvement in credit passes.

    A comparative analysis of the November/December SSCE results in the past three years showed that the 2012 result has a remarkable rise in credit passes.

    In 2010, the credit pass in English language was 4.67 per cent. In 2011, it was 10.03 per cent, while in 2012, it was 33.89 per cent.

    Mathematics also recorded an improvement from the 19.44 per cent credit pass in 2010 to 44.74 per cent in 2011 and 54.79 per cent in 2012.

    On examination malpractices, Okpala said 21,274 cases were recorded nationwide, with Taraba State topping the list with 18.82 per cent cases. Osun State had the least cases of malpractices.

    He said there were no leakages during the 2012 November/December SSCE examination, as measures that ensured appropriate standard and excellence before, during and after the examination were put in place.

  • Lawyer seeks improvement in judges’ pay

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Sebastine Hon, has advocated an increase in the salaries and emoluments of judges to discourage corruption and unethical conduct among judicial officers.

    Hon, in a statement yesterday, said Nigerian judges are paid pittance compared with what their counterparts earn in countries such as the United States and Canada.

    He said it was embarrassing that a magistrate in the US earned more than a justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court, and that a justice of the US Supreme Court earned four times more than a justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

    Hon faulted the grouping of judges with other state officials in the Salaries and Allowances of Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders Act, 2008.

    He noted that if the country was serious about addressing unethical conduct at the bench, the least ranked judicial officer in the country should earn not less than N1million as basic salary.

    The Senior Advocate of Nigeria suggested that Supreme Court justices should be paid not less than N5million basic monthly salary, with justices of the Court of Appeal and judges of the High Court and other courts in that grade earning not less than N4million basic monthly salary.

    “If we can hire a foreign coach and pay him N10 million monthly, I wonder why we should pay our judicial officers peanuts, thereby encouraging corruption,” he said in a statement, entitled: ‘Red alert: Justices of Supreme Court earn lower than Magistrates in the USA.’

    The lawyer, who was reacting to a claim allegedly made by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Olufonlula Adekeye, in an interview that justices of the superior courts were poorly paid, urged concerned authorities to remedy the situation.

    He said: “The Chief Justice of the USA earns $223,500 annual basic salary. If converted to Naira, it will stand at N33.5million. That is almost four times more than what the Chief Justice of Nigeria takes as his annual basic salary, going by the provisions of the Salaries and Allowances of Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders Act, 2008.

    “Also, whereas an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA earns an annual basic salary of $213,900, which translates to N32.08million, his Nigerian counterpart earns an annual basic salary of N10.8million.

    “From 1987, the salary of a magistrate in the USA has been pegged at 92 per cent of the basic salary of a District Court Judge. A District Court Judge’s basic annual salary is $174,000, which translates to N26,100,000. This is N16million more than what a Justice of the Supreme Court takes home annually in Nigeria.

    “Also, 92 per cent of $174,000 is $160,000. If we convert this to Naira, we will have N24million. This is the annual salary of a Magistrate in the USA, which is more than the annual basic salary of a Supreme Court Justice by N14million.

    In Canada, the Chief Justice receives an annual basic of $370,000, while a Justice of the Supreme Court of that country receives basic package of $342,800, which rates are even higher than those in the USA.