Nigeria's public examinations are very good indicators of what is really wrong with the country as a whole. They are excellent mirrors of the rot, the chaos, arrogance and official helplessness that characterize public institutions and the processes they run, or that run them. Technically, examinations in Nigeria are no more examinations, the expectations and darkness that should be innate to them having gone to the dogs. Sloppy leakages have been peculiar problems but the mayhem has simply gone beyond that. Internet has shattered any credibility that is left. The open practice is now for the solutions to the papers to be placed on websites specially created for such purposes by gangs that make enormous profits from such illegal ventures. On or before the examinations and it is then easy for any student with a phone to copy answers directly from the web. That might not even be necessary. A teacher could copy the answers and help reproduce them en masse for students. As exams approach, teachers and students alike race to subscribe to these websites and this mass movement can approach a frenzy. Some create whatsapp groups that facilitate the spread of answers. From teachers to pupils, billions of naira are involved in this illicit activity and it has become the fastest growing component of the Dark Web in Nigeria.
The certificates being issued by the examination bodies are simply not worth the paper on which they are printed. The worst culprit is the National Examinations Council, NECO. The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, is a regional body made up of 5 countries in the West African sub-region. Though not immune to the problems enumerated, it still manages to conduct its examinations with a semblance of decency. NECO is a body peculiar to Nigeria alone and it operates with all the stains the country can muster. Its questions are in public domain at least a week before they are written and a grim example is the vital English Language paper in the ongoing June/ July Senior Secondary School Examinations, SSCE, The leakage was so bad that NECO was forced, against its established inclinations, to cancel the paper and shift it from 10.00am to 2.00pm on the 7th of June, on the premise that new questions will be ready by then. But Nigeria is a vast country and distribution of papers must involve enormous logistics. Expectedly, the rescheduled questions could not reach everywhere and some states had to demand another reschedule. Kano State is an example and students therein will be re-writing the English Language paper on the 30th of June. In essence, different versions of the same paper are being written all over the country. No wonder education is on the rise in Nigeria.
AND THE EAGLES CRASH DOWN AND OUT.
The Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia yesterday through a late Argentine goal by Marcos Rojo of Manchester United. Once again, the country suffers an agonizing heartbreak to a late goal, just like it was in the 1994 edition of the tournament in the US. It was the second round match with Italy and Nigeria was leading 1-0 with a couple of minutes to spare and the then coach, Clemens Westerhof, was screaming at the players to put the ball in the stands. Just hoof it away. Unfortunately few heeded him and Sunday Oliseh promptly lost the ball in the midfield while trying some daisy-cutting: someone laid a pass to Roberto Baggio and the lethal striker could not fail to ruthlessly slot in from 10 yards out, beyond the outstretched hands of the excellent Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai.
Italy was to win it in extra time through a penalty and the rest is history. It was history the Eagles should have learnt from yesterday. Just keep hoofing the ball into the stands, waste the couple of minutes left, keep on frustrating Messi and co, keep on demoralizing them. They knew they were already beaten and such tactics would have killed off the game.
The certificates being issued by the examination bodies are simply not worth the paper on which they are printed. The worst culprit is the National Examinations Council, NECO. The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, is a regional body made up of 5 countries in the West African sub-region. Though not immune to the problems enumerated, it still manages to conduct its examinations with a semblance of decency. NECO is a body peculiar to Nigeria alone and it operates with all the stains the country can muster. Its questions are in public domain at least a week before they are written and a grim example is the vital English Language paper in the ongoing June/ July Senior Secondary School Examinations, SSCE, The leakage was so bad that NECO was forced, against its established inclinations, to cancel the paper and shift it from 10.00am to 2.00pm on the 7th of June, on the premise that new questions will be ready by then. But Nigeria is a vast country and distribution of papers must involve enormous logistics. Expectedly, the rescheduled questions could not reach everywhere and some states had to demand another reschedule. Kano State is an example and students therein will be re-writing the English Language paper on the 30th of June. In essence, different versions of the same paper are being written all over the country. No wonder education is on the rise in Nigeria.
AND THE EAGLES CRASH DOWN AND OUT.
The Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia yesterday through a late Argentine goal by Marcos Rojo of Manchester United. Once again, the country suffers an agonizing heartbreak to a late goal, just like it was in the 1994 edition of the tournament in the US. It was the second round match with Italy and Nigeria was leading 1-0 with a couple of minutes to spare and the then coach, Clemens Westerhof, was screaming at the players to put the ball in the stands. Just hoof it away. Unfortunately few heeded him and Sunday Oliseh promptly lost the ball in the midfield while trying some daisy-cutting: someone laid a pass to Roberto Baggio and the lethal striker could not fail to ruthlessly slot in from 10 yards out, beyond the outstretched hands of the excellent Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai.
Italy was to win it in extra time through a penalty and the rest is history. It was history the Eagles should have learnt from yesterday. Just keep hoofing the ball into the stands, waste the couple of minutes left, keep on frustrating Messi and co, keep on demoralizing them. They knew they were already beaten and such tactics would have killed off the game.
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