There is a saying among the Yoruba, which, when translated into English, means that pounded yam that was pounded twenty years ago can be so hot as to burn the hands. This warning is hyperbolic, considering the fact that even pounded that has just been pounded this very minute can never be so hot as to scald the fingers of a baby. What the warning, however, tries to communicate is the tendency for the consequences of a wrong action to continue to reverberate and haunt the people, many years after it took place. The case of Nigeria’s Unity Schools and the application of Federal character policy in the admission of children into the colleges that are also known as Federal Government Colleges, reminds me of the Yoruba proverbial pounded yam. This controversial policy is a category of pounded yam that has remained hot, scalding and difficult to grapple with, even though it has been existing inside the Nigerian deep freezer for decades. The lesson from the age-old pounded yam aphorism is that anything that is not properly done, or any wrong policy, will continue to haunt the people, for ages. What, exactly, is this Federal Character policy about? It is a policy which seeks to ensure that children from all parts of the country get a place in Federal Government Colleges, irrespective of their performance in national entrance examinations into the schools. I first encountered this contentious Federal Character debacle about 25 years ago when I was involved in the effort to seek admission space in a Unity College for a ward. At that time, I was shocked to learn that young children seeking admission into Federal Government Colleges from the Northern part of the country who failed, abysmally, in the entrance examination into the highly sought after schools were given admission places, while their counterparts in the Southern part of the country who performed better in the entrance examinations could not get a place. The wide disparity in cut off point for admission into the colleges between the Northern and Southern part of the country at that time is no different from the one recently released by the nation’s education authorities for the 2013 admission exercise. Cut off points released by the Federal Ministry of Education for the current admission season shows that out of a total obtainable score of 200, candidates from states like Anambra, Imo, Abia, Delta, Ogun and Lagos will have to score well above 130 marks to be considered for admission, while male candidates from Zamfara, Yobe and Taraba, who scored 4, 2 and 3 respectively out of 200 marks would be given admission. As a matter of fact, a female candidate from Zamfara State who scores 2 out of 200 in the examination will joyfully stroll for admission into a Federal Government College while candidates who scored 129 in the earlier listed states in the Southern part of the country will be not be considered for admission.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:26:55 +0000
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