We are fond of accusing our leaders of corruption, mismanagement and saying that they are the cause of all cankerworms killing this country. We always heap the blame on our leaders, shielding ourselves of any blame in what the country has become today. But the fact is that, in our tiny communities, we also share in whatever Nigeria has become today – either good or bad.
The crux of this piece is to expose the exploitation and heartless racket in the sales of Direct Entry forms in Kano.
Every Nigerian is aware that gaining admission into a university is one of the most depleted phase of the country’s education system and the most unnerving task of a student’s life. Secondary school leavers scramble to gain admission into universities with all they can. They struggle to sit for West African Examination Council or National Examination Council (NECO) or both. Afterwards, they sit for tertiary matriculation examination to further their studies.
Over the years, these examinations have been fraught with malpractice and fraud, yet they are prerequisite to gaining admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Although, the recently-introduced post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is an effort to check fraud in matriculation examination, but the two combined are just unnecessary, stressful and costly. But like many Nigerian issues, we have adapted to it and continued to live with it.
In Kano, over 60,000 pupils graduate from secondary schools yearly. A roughly 15 per cent of this figure gain admission into degree-awarding institutions but majority will opt for other tertiary programmes like National Diploma, Certificate of Education, etc. Many of these school leavers will still seek admission into university via Direct Entry (DE).
Successful DE applicants are admitted into universities from second year upon completion of a two-year National Diploma or its equivalent. Others that performed averagely join as freshers. I know many graduates that gained admission via DE either as sophomore students or fresher.
Until the last few days, I was never privileged to learn of the internal processes involved in gaining admission via DE. What follows is the sad truth surrounding Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Direct Entry Forms. I saw it as monopolistic, fraudulent and exploitative, which puts applicants’ lives in danger.
I was with a friend a few days ago when his sister asked for N7,000 to obtain the BUK Direct Entry form. My friend told me the young lady was a three-point student and he was optimistic she would be admitted as sophomore student into BUK.
The next day, facts began to emerge regarding the purchase of the DE form. For a start, the form can only be purchased in Zenith Bank branches in Kano. How and why BUK choose only one bank to be their outlet in getting the form? But Zenith Bank only has 11 branches in the whole of Kano; three of these branches are loosely located around the Sabon Gari business area, which is more than 10 kilometres away from the institution’s two campuses.
Thus, the choice of a bank only outlet is unfair to applicants, because there are other banks within the campus. Imagine an applicant travelling to Wudil or Gwarzo local government areas in Kano where Zenith Bank branches are to purchase DE form and on getting there, he is told all forms have been sold out. This is the situation my friend’s younger sister faced.
However, a staff of the bank told us we could get the form at Ciroma Cyber Café in Sabon Gari area. But why did a Zenith Bank staff direct us to a cyber café when the bank was chosen as the sole outlet to get the form?
We took the pain to locate Ciroma Café, where we met over 300 people registering for one exam or the other. The DE form was supposed to cost N7,000, but we purchased it at the rate of N12,000 at the café. An applicant was seen pleading with the vendor to collect N10,000, but he replied: “You can go and sort yourself I will still be here tomorrow.”
My friend counted N12,000 and extended to the vendor, but the happy guy looked at us and said its N14,000. Just like that! We actually purchased the form at double cost. We saw a young lady, crying because she could not afford to pay double for the form. There was someone, who rushed to look for balance only to return and learnt that additional N2,000 had been placed on the asking price.
This is Kano and not Lagos or Abuja, where people want to make money faster.
It is obvious that Ciroma Cyber Café is either in collaboration with the Zenith Bank or some dishonest members of staff of the university to rip off applicants. Or what could have given the café owner an effrontery to hike price of the DE form at will if he is not supported by the monopoly or the issuing institution?
This is nothing but a legalised exploitation of the poor admission seekers. And this may have been the situation in others universities that accept DE. Applicants, who could not afford to buy at Ciroma café’s price, might have been deprived of the right to education. The might be thrown into a state of mental depression.
I am sure the Kano State government, which has invested hugely in education, is not aware of this exploitation of indigent admission seekers. I hope the Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso would read this and take necessary step to stop this exploitation.
Authorities must ensure that only qualified applicants purchase the DE forms. It is my hope that stakeholders will take diligent action to ensure DE candidates gain admission through a fair process.
Salihu, a former student, writes from Kano
