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Monday, March 5, 2012

Short Essay 27. JAMB Should Defy Boko Haram

Short Essay 27
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

JAMB Should Defy Boko Haram

The News Agency of Nigeria yesterday reported the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, saying that it will cancel the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in volatile states of Northern Nigeria if the Boko Haram attack on primary and secondary schools in Borno State continues. “The Board will be left with no option”, he said, “than to tell candidates to go elsewhere to write the exams if schools which serve as centres will be attacked.”

The report appears contradictory, making me believe that NAN did not get its facts right. Consider another statement it reported from the Registrar:

“When we reviewed the situation in volatile states, for instance Borno, we realized that some of the schools are being bombed but our investigations showed that only primary schools are affected and not secondary schools.”

By this statement, to my understanding, the Registrar did not rule out JAMB holding examinations in those states. After all, UTME examinations are held in secondary schools. Primary schools hardly have the large space facilities that JAMB needs.

I am not accusing NAN of crying wolf where there is none; after all, it is a reputable news agency on which our media houses depend as a veritable source of news on a wide range of domestic affairs. I only think the Registrar should be clearly understood on this important subject matter that will affect the future of hundreds of thousands of our children.

Despite the contradiction in the report, I still felt it is worth making a short comment on the matter.

I understand the concern of JAMB. As any prudent agency would aver, it does not want its indiscretion to result in the death of Nigerian children and staff of the Board. The Registrar deserves our commendation for this foresight.

In the event that the unexpected happens and attacks secondary schools in the next two weeks before the exams, I still feel that JAMB should not contemplate canceling the examination but go ahead to plan its execution and taking the necessary precautions. The UTME examination is too important to be brushed aside for the scare of an anticipated attack by Boko Haram. Canceling the examination will cause so much pain and complications in the learning career of the candidates and compound the admission exercise of higher institutions to which the affected states are catchment areas.

JAMB should go ahead with its plan due to two reasons.

One, I am inclined to believe that Boko Haram will not attack these centres when the examinations are holding. To be fair to Boko Haram, the sect has always maintained that it does not target civilians but security and law enforcement personnel. It has repeated this time without number. And if we can remember, its leader announced in his second video broadcast on Youtube that the group will start attacking ‘boko’ schools after an alleged attack by JTF of a Qur’anic school in Maiduguri, an allegation that JTF quick to refute.

So far, Boko Haram has attacked four primary schools. But in all the attacks, no life was lost because the group refrained from carrying out the attacks during schools hours when it will lead to deaths and casualties to the civilian pupils and staff. With this record, it is clear that Boko Haram is targeting infrastructure, not the pupils, of the primary schools. Doing otherwise will contradict its claim that it is “working for the interest of the ummah”, as its leader Shekau would put it. JAMB examinations, therefore, are very unlikely targets of Boko Haram. Relax your mind, my Professor Ojerinde!

Two, if I am proved wrong and Boko Haram attacks secondary schools during schools hours – something I still believe is not in tandem with its modus operandi – JAMB should still go ahead with the examinations but make adequate security arrangements for their safe conduct. A number of measures would be necessary.

First and foremost, JAMB should liaise with the JTF and the state government to study the situation and look into the necessary measures for safe conduct of the examinations. Fortunately, the examination, unlike NYSC, is not protracted; it takes only few hours. The military and other agencies can mobilize a substantial number of personnel to each centre.

To ensure that the centres are not blown off a night or so before the examinations, law enforcement personnel need to be posted there early enough. Then on the day of the examination, the schools or the neighbourhoods where the centres are located should be adequately manned. In fact, the entire state could be placed under curfew that Saturday for the period the examinations are conducted. These measures are necessary especially for town like Biu, Bama, Uba, Gwoza, etc.

If it proves to be too difficult or risky to hold the examination at the various centres in Maiduguri town, there is still a better option than to “tell candidates to go elsewhere to write the exams.” The authorities should think of pooling the centres into one for candidates within Maiduguri town. The University of Maiduguri would be a suitable site. It has many theatres and lecture halls that can accommodate the candidates. The university community should make do with the inconvenience of few hours to enable its prospective candidates sit for the matriculation examination.

I think a combination of statewide curfew and shifting the examination to the university for candidates in the capital, which is the epricentre of Boko Haram attacks, will be the best.

If all the above fails and JAMB insists that the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom, and only after having obtained a red card from JTF, then I would suggest that candidates from Borno State should be given a waiver by JAMB such that they can be admitted on the basis of post-UME tests in the institutions they applied for in addition to their fulfillment of WAEC/NECO requirements. Skipping JAMB itself would not matter much since in most universities passing the post-UME test is as important, if not more important, than passing JAMB.

Finally, I call on Borno State government to take this issue seriously. Its candidates and indeed the state cannot afford to miss UTME examinations. Boko Haram may be here next year also. Does that mean that my Kanuri brothers will continue to miss UTME and universty admissions indefinitely? So instead of running away from the problem, it must be handled now. The government must do whatever it takes to ensure that JAMB is convinced on the security of its centres in the state. It must not sit back and see the twelve years it invested in its candidates washed away by the fear of a Boko Haram attack.


Bauchi
5 March 2012

16 comments:

Bello Arkilla said...

Nice one Malam Aliyu. Thankg god at last we hear from you.

shaba said...

hope like any other nija agender jamb also have no hidden agender so to speak only time shall tell.

jidda said...

Good piece of advice.

Anonymous said...

let Borno state take good advantage of the advice by Dr.

Anonymous said...

I think conducting the exam at one center - University of Maiduguri will be a better alternative than providing securities in all the secondary schools.

Sani Adamu Tilde said...

Salam,
May Allah continue to guide, protect n bestow you with more wisdom to continue with your good work...

kabir said...

boko haram should remember one of the conditions of islam that you should not creat fear unnecessarily in the mind of populace if at all what they are doing is for the good of the people. They should equally remember that what ever we do in this world will be questioned on the day of qiyamah. It is better to know the true islamic stand of any action we take. Life is sacred because no one knows how it was created. Only the creator of life csn take it without adverse consquences. If they believe in the Qur'an, it says; "whover kills a believer intentionaly, his recompense id hell to abide therein; and the wrath and curse of Allah are upon him, and great punshment is prepared for him."Q4v93.
People should know that jihad is encouraged to depend the opressed. So when the oppressed are targeted deliberately, you wonder what really is boko haram's jihad. May Allah expose our senses to what is truth and uphold it and expose our senses to falsehood and help us keep away from it.

Ahmed Baba, Abuja. said...

My brother Dr. Tilde may Allah bless you for the wise counsel on the need for security precaution by JAMB and the States affected by Boko Haram menace in the North in particular. I would like to add to all that you have said that JAMB or the States should provide Bomb detecting machines/scanners at the centers for all candidates to pass through before entering the exam halls. This is necessary incase there would be infiltrators from the Boko Haram who might strapped themselves in Bombs and posed as candidates. The FGN should lend its weight on this matter as the operation of Boko Haram has developed into sophistication beyond the level you and me had imagined. Ahmed Baba, Abuja.

Ahmed Baba, Abuja said...

My brother Dr. Tilde may Allah bless you for the wise counsel on the need for security precaution by JAMB and the States affected by Boko Haram menace in the North in particular. I would like to add to all that you have said that JAMB or the States should provide Bomb detecting machines/scanners at the centers for all candidates to pass through before entering the exam halls. This is necessary incase there would be infiltrators from the Boko Haram who might strapped themselves in Bombs and posed as candidates. The FGN should lend its weight on this matter as the operation of Boko Haram has developed into sophistication beyond the level you and me had imagined. Ahmed Baba, Abuja.

Anonymous said...

Well said! and believe me, not everyone can see that which you have seen; the future of our children! it needs to be saved here and now. May the Almighty bestow His wisdom on us to take the right decision

Anonymous said...

Ah! My good Doctor. As usual, you never tire of given good and objective advice; albeit, to a Government that has eyes that do not focus, ears that do not hear, a mouth that lies and contradicts its own "official" statements.

JAMB is just an extension of that so-called Government, I honestly pray someone@JAMB has read your discourse; someone in position to listen and hopefully implement your advice; without fear of being "prosecuted" as a "Boko-Haramist", esp. if He/She is from the North.

More grease to elbows Dr.

Umar Abubakar said...

Every Northern calamity is rigimatically tied to Boko Haram. It is not mamakeous if oneday someone says the North is landlock as a curse from boko haram. To Allah we defend as our Sustainer. May He the Almighty end this disaster in our Arewa. amin. Allah Ya yi wa Dr. albarka.

kasimu said...

Doctor may almighty Allah continue to enable you educating us ameen.

Auwal Gambo said...

thanks Dr Tilde 4 this your timely contribution. I share your view, I just hope Prof (and his JAMB), borno state govt,UNIMED and other institutions will consider these suggestions critically.

Ado maaji said...

Dr. I share your views on Prof. Let's assume he did not say so, even though he did not deny that. On your analysis about the future of Nigeria vis-a-vis the northern part thereof, anybody who believes in God and who knows how just God is, must deep inside his mind know that the northern part of this country, with it's teeming population is not left without nothing. Time will tell and history will judge you right

Anonymous said...

Dr. I share your views on Prof. Let's assume he did not say so, even though he did not deny that. On your analysis about the future of Nigeria vis-a-vis the northern part thereof, anybody who believes in God and who knows how just God is, must deep inside his mind know that the northern part of this country, with it's teeming population is not left without nothing. Time will tell and history will judge you right