By Luke Onyekakeyah
At a time when agitations and mass
discontent are raging across the country as a result of perceived injustice,
cheating, marginalisation and inequity in the system, the Federal Ministry of
Education is going ahead with the entrenched and lopsided admission policy into
the 104 Unity Schools, whereby, states in the north are favoured in the
admission through very low cut-off marks while the southern states are denied
admission through very high cut-off marks.
The admission is conducted as if the schools belong to the
states and not the Federal Government; hence, the northern states have to be
given special favour. This, unfortunately, is still going on despite a court
verdict that abolished disparity in cut-off marks in the schools since 2014.
The Federal Ministry of Education has chosen to disobey the court order and
nothing is being said about it. Hapless pupils from the southern states are
being denied admission simply on grounds of states origin and gender.
An order given by a court of competent jurisdiction ought
to be obeyed by both the Federal Government and the minister of Education in
the interest of the rule of law. Why should the minister not comply with the
court order?
The culture of obeying court orders only when it favoured one doesn’t augur
well for the system. The Federal Minister of Education has chosen to disobey
the court order since 2014 without sanction, whatsoever. How can democracy and
good governance flourish amid lawlessness? It is incumbent on the minister to
comply with the court order in the interest of justice, fairness and progress.
It would be recalled that on November 17, 2014, Honourable
Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Lagos
The judgment followed a suit filed by human rights lawyer,
Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, against the Federal Government and the minister of
Education in which he challenged the admission disparity. Agbakoba’s case was
based on Section 42 of the 1999 constitution, which prohibits administrative or
executive actions by government that discriminates between Nigerians on grounds
of ethnicity, gender, religion and place of origin.
Agbakoba had stated in his supporting application that
since the inception of the Unity Schools, the Federal Government has maintained
great disparity in admission requirements for candidates wishing to be admitted
into Federal Government colleges. He noted, in particular, that the Federal
Government prescribes different cut-off marks for different states based on
candidates’ gender and state of origin.
Based on the foregoing, Agbakoba prayed the court for
among other things: 1) A Declaration that the administrative acts of the
Federal Government and Education Minister, which prescribes and applies
different cut-off marks for candidates seeking admission into Federal
Government colleges based on gender, ethnicity, states of origin are discriminatory;
2) An Order directing the Minister and Federal Government to apply uniform
admission requirements, especially cut-off marks to all candidates seeking
admission in Federal Government colleges; 3) An Order of Perpetual Injunction
restraining the minister and Federal Government from further acts of
discrimination.
In its judgment, the court declared that the application
of different cut-off marks based on the states of origin and gender violates
the candidates’ fundamental rights to freedom from discrimination as guaranteed
by Section 42(1) of 1999 Constitution.
The court, thereby, ordered the Federal government and minister of Education to
apply uniform cut-off marks to all candidates seeking admission into Federal
Government colleges, irrespective of their states of origin. By that order, the
court, ipso facto, abolished discriminatory admission into the Unity schools.
Where there is rule of law, the Federal Government and the
minister of Education would have no choice than to comply with the ruling. There
would have been no need to remind the two parties of their need to obey without
hesitation.
But, unfortunately, this is not the case in Nigeria
Nothing, absolutely, has been done to appreciate a
subsisting court order that was given in the national interest. So far, both
the Federal Government and the Minister of Education have continued to act as
if nothing happened; as if they are unaware that such an order still subsists.
Yet, the same Federal Government keeps harping on the rule of law as well as
its absolute commitment to it.
The release of another discriminatory admission cut-off
marks by the Ministry of Education for the 2017/2018 admission into the so-called
Unity Schools shows a blatant contempt of the rule of law by the Federal
Government and the Ministry of Education. The north is still favoured while the
south is diminished.
For example, the cut-off marks for Anambra, Imo, Lagos
How do you convince a child from Anambra or Imo who scored
130, for example, that he/she is not qualified for admission, while another
child from Taraba or Yobe states, who scored unbelievable 2 marks is qualified,
admitted and even given scholarship? How on earth do you convince the cheated
children that they are in One Nigeria! Who is deceiving who?
The unjust admission policy is based on a skewed quota
system that applies such criteria as educationally disadvantages states,
environmental, gender and merit. Whereas, merit gets only 40 per cent of the
total admission, 60 per cent goes to other frivolous considerations that have
nothing to do with merit.
The result is that merit is thrown to the winds while
mediocrity is promoted. How can Nigeria South America made
it? We are facing a hopeless situation as long as this kind of perversion
subsists.
*Dr. Luke Onyekakeyah
is on the Editorial Board of The Guardian.
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