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.
