For a very long time, Nigeria’s school system, particularly the so-called Unity Schools, has been oozing out much stench and leaves much to be desired. There is nothing united in the mendacious Unity Schools, which is actually an incubator for vaulting crass mediocrity over meritocracy.

It is baffling why government would continue to reward idiocy by believing that education can be forced on a man, who prefers the superiority of his cows to human beings and would rather live wild with cows than go to school. By so doing, government is destroying the “educationally disadvantaged North” and erroneously hoping it would catch up with the South.

The question is, who made the North educationally disadvantaged despite government locating majority of the schools in its region? Government’s odious policies of tagging favoring the North undeservedly are to blame for making the people less competitive, lazy and unambitious. And, of course, why would they bother to aspire when positions are already reserved for them in choice places?   

This much was what a participant in the recently held stakeholders meeting on Unity Schools/colleges in Abuja wanted to address but was bundled out of the venue. In a trending narrative on the social media, the participant was shamelessly thrown out of the meeting by officials of the Federal Ministry of Education instead of being garlanded for giving them ideas on how to revamp the education system and save the North from imminent collapse, which is exactly where the skewed policies are heading.

“I had waited for an opportunity to share my thoughts on my hatred, opposition and stance against Unity Schools and the injustice in Nigerian education system. I missed the opportunity in 2016 and 2017 to present my views. Then, the meeting was a hushed one. This time around, we were told the meeting would drag to two days. And stakeholders, who had views, could easily share them as the minister would entertain such. 

“(She) announced the breakdown of the registrations for the 2018 Common Entrance Examinations. A total of 71, 294 young boys and girls were registered for the examination, a little shortfall from the 81,930 that registered in 2017. Lagos State hit the top with 24,465, FCT came next with 7, 699. Of course, you know why? Igbo in Lagos and FCT are included! Then, she murmured a well rehearsed statement: Zamfara 28, Kebbi 50, Taraba 95. These three states came first from behind. 

“She went ahead to tell us the obvious: That the nation has 104 Unity Schools; that most of these Unity Schools don’t get up to their carrying capacity; A budget, running into billions of naira goes into their maintenance each year and that the unity schools take up to 45% of the budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Education.” 

Of course, I have learned to take information from the social media with a pinch of salt. This means that the said narrative could have been contrived but for its clarity, cogent posers and confirmation of the deplorable statistics from the North by the honourable minister.

What really is the man’s offence? He asked soul-searching questions, canons, he called them:

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“Why do we have 12 Unity Schools in the East where more than 50% of candidates come from? Mr. Minister, why are kids from Igboland not given admission to those Unity Schools that don’t get up to their quota/carrying capacity? Honourable Minister, can you explain why a young girl from Imo State, seeking admission into any of the country’s 104 Federal Government Colleges (Unity Schools) must score 139 points out of a possible 300 to stand a chance of being taken. But her counterpart from Zamfara State only needs to guess two answers right? Why does the young boy from Abia be denied admission even when he scores 198 while his counterpart from Gombe, who merely wrote the examination (but scored zero) is allowed to study in any Unity School of his choice?

“Why do we have only two Igbo principals in the 105 Unity Schools in Nigeria? Does this reflect intellectual preparedness or merely a reflection of the wishes of the leadership of the nation and that of the ministry? Why must the Federal Government set up a well funded advocacy team to persuade villagers, traditional rulers in North and clergy to encourage their citizens to send their wards to Unity Colleges while efforts are not made to accommodate thousands of kids from the East, who are denied admission yearly.

“Our minister, I hope you are aware that last year, Nigeria’s four Federal Government Colleges did not produce a single candidate that scored five credits that included English and Mathematics, needed to gain admission into the university.

 “Hon Minister, I hope you are aware that Federal Government Girls’ College, Bajoga (Gombe State); FGGC, Bauchi (Bauchi State); FGGC Gboko (Benue State), and the Federal Science and Technical College, Kafanchan (in Kaduna State) did not produce a single pupil with credits in English and Mathematics.

“Honourable minister, I hope you are aware that in 2013, human rights lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, filed a suit at a Federal High Court in Lagos over admission inequality in Federal Government Colleges. The court declared as unconstitutional, the decades-long state-based, quota system admission into Federal Government Colleges. John Tsoho, the trial Judge, in his ruling declared that the action of the Minister of Education in prescribing and applying different requirements for candidates, seeking admission into Unity Schools is in violation of Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution. If this is the case, and definitely that is the case, why does the Ministry of Education under you refuse to adhere to the court ruling?

“Why does Zamfara State, with 28 candidates for the 2018 common entrance examination have three Unity Schools, while my state of Imo has only two!!!? Why do we have three Unity Schools in Taraba (that has only 95 students this year) while Enugu State has only two? Hon. Minister, I can go on and on to…” 

It was at this point that hell was let loose. “Stop there!!!” Voices from the elevated table raged. It was amidst claps and jeers, heckles and clear disapproval from those whose benefits had been threatened; acclamation from those whose grievances have been let loose. He was whisked away from the ICC, venue of the stakeholders meeting from where he made his way back to Lagos.

It is unfortunate that this kind of talk would be misinterpreted as anti-North, which it is not. The truth is that the North is killing the North, keeping the South on leash. Conscience is an open wound; only truth can heal it.