Osita Chidoka: JAMB result, candidate’s state of origin and a wakeup call to the South East

Last week, JAMB released a list of ten best performing candidates in the just concluded 2020 UTME. This caused mixed reactions from the public. As usual, the focal point of discussion was which states produced the best candidates. The public usually use this to grade the performance of each state in the education sector - an error I would say.

Mr. Chidoka wades into this discussion in his characteristic way of trying to point the public to the right direction in a trending matter.  He wrote on his wall,

 “It is interesting how Nigeria media report news and how we uncritically ingest same. Agnes Maduafokwa came first in JAMB with a score of 365 and it was reported that Anambra state came first. As usual I searched more.

From the table below it is reported she took her exam at Lagos and possibly is a student of a Lagos public or private secondary school. If the information below is correct and if she attended a Lagos based secondary school then Anambra state did not come first. We should look to the school system that nurtured and produced her. Interestingly one of them wrote the exam in Rivers state an educationally disadvantaged state. A very divisive phrase that does not embarrass the government and people of those states.

It is instructive that none of the ten top students took their exams in a center based in the South East. In fact the second Anambra indigene took his exam in Kogi! I will like to know if he attended a Kogi secondary school.

This is preliminary information as I would dig deeper. Curiously only Kwara state had an Indigene who wrote the exam in Kwara in the top 10.

Igbos should critically examine the quality of leadership at home and not confuse the success of Igbo local diaspora with Igbo state success. Taa bu gbo”

Chidoka’s view didn’t go down well with a number of people who felt his stand has a political undertone directed against the government of Obiano, the Anambra state governor. For instance, a certain Frederick Nwamgbo who commented on Chidoka’s post said,

 “Must you criticize every action of govt before you can become a governor? I am not sure Chidoka entered the university with Jamb. Does he think jamb is like waec that must be taken at the place one schooled. If you don't have anything does, find a way to engage yourself on how to change the bad narrative of the Anambra Igbos by our Nollywood industry portraying them as money rituals. Just engage your mind on something important and leave the government of Anambra alone.”

Now the questions are; what was Chidoka’s position? Did he make his post in error? Were his detractors right about his post being an attack on Governor Obiano of Anambra state? These three questions form the bases of this article.

What was Chidoka’s Position?

Using Agnes Maduafokwa who had the highest score in JAMB this year, Mr. Chidoka tried to point out that if the candidate’s state of exam was truly Lagos state, then the glory of producing the best JAMB candidate this year should go to Lagos state, even though the candidate’s state of origin is Anambra. His reason is that the candidate was nurtured academically in Lagos. And the same should apply to the rest of the top ten candidates on the list, none of whom took the exam at any centre in the South East.

He went further to advise the South Easterners (Ndi Igbo), to wake up and do something about the education in the south east region by holding the leaders in the region accountable. And his reason was that ndi Igbo should “not confuse the success of Igbo local diaspora with Igbo state success.” He concluded with an Igbo phrase, “Taa bu gbo.” This simply means the earlier the better.

Did Mr. Chidoka make his post in error?

The answers are Yes and No. Yes, because based on the table above, as obtained from the Facebook wall of Mr. Chidoka, JAMB’s “State of Exam” does not necessarily mean where “the school system that nurtured and produced” the candidate is located. It simply means where the centre the candidate took the exam is located. It is possible, like in the case of Agnes Maduafokwa, that she attended a school in Anambra or Imo, or even Bauchi state, but decided to choose Lagos state as her “State of Exam” (exam centre). It could also mean that she actually attended school in Lagos and also choose Lagos as her “State of Exam.” No one can say, but the candidate, or her SSCE result. From Mr. Chidoka’s post, it seems he misconstrued “State of Exam” to mean where “the school system that nurtured and produced” the candidate is located. On this premise, his post was in error.

Nevertheless, what is not erroneous about Osita’s post is that the quality of education in the South East needs urgent attention NOW. Last week, someone posted on his Facebook wall pictures of some schools in Ebonyi State and they almost brought tears to people's eyes. The Governor of the state, Engr. David Umahi, is doing wonders in developing infrastructures in the state like no other governor before him. In fact, his achievements in providing infrastructures have probably surpassed what the governors in the neighbouring south east states have done in the past five years. However, some schools in the state still look so irredeemably rotten. And for schools that look that way, what intellectual value can come out of them? The schools did not start looking that way under the present governor’s watch. What you are looking at is decay from many years of neglect, long before Engr. Umahi even thought of becoming the governor of the state. But, like Mr. Chidoka said, “Igbos should critically examine the quality of leadership at home and not confuse the success of Igbo local diaspora with Igbo state success.” Meaning that Ndi Igbo should hold their leaders accountable on issues of quality of education in the region, and not rely on the success of their students in diaspora who are being nurtured with the educational facilities of other states.

Learning environments like the ones in the above pictures are littered across all the south east states. Most of the ones that look better than these ones do not even have enough teachers and teaching facilities. What are the South Easters doing about it? These governors and leaders are saddled with a lot of responsibilities and are very busy. We should call their attention to some of these lapses. Someone like Ebonyi State governor, who has a track record of excellent performance, will certainly do something about some of the issues in his state, if they are brought to his attention. He has already renovated some of the schools in the state. But certainly, something is currently wrong with the education system in the South East. On this basis, Osita did not make his post in error.

Were Mr. Chidoka’s detractors right about his post being an attack on Governor Obiano of Anambra state?

Whoever claims Mr. Chidoka’s post was targeted at condemning the achievements of Obiano must have misunderstood what he wrote, or did not read the post at all. The ex-minister’s post was a wakeup call to his people, ndi Igbo. The call was for them to re-examine the quality of education in the south east and should not assess the quality of education in the region with the result of south east indigenes schooling in other regions, the diaspora. In other words, it is those regions that have good education system and not the south east.  And if this is the case, ndi Igbo should do something about the quality of education in the region now.  

Is it not even disheartening that none of the top 10 candidates chose to study in any tertiary institution in the South East, even the ones from the region? This is a wakeup call that while the South East makes effort to rejig its basic and secondary education, it must not neglect the tertiary institutions in the region. The region must look at its education sector holistically before it’s too late. In the words Osita Chidoka, “Taa bu gbo”.