JOHN NWOKOCHA
Professor Godswill Obioma is not a new comer to the Nigerian education sector. To put it succinctly Obioma, who was appointed recently as the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of National Education Council (NECO) is in a familiar terrain where he had also made remarkable impacts. For those who have followed keenly Nigeria’s educational development as well as its socio political progress will have observed the active participation of Obioma in all these. And even in the global education arena his contributions are unprecedented and have given the country a quantum leap among comity of nations.
But until this appointment Obioma was the Ebonyi State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. This man of destiny was the former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council. He also served at various time at top level of different educational units on appointment by the Nigerian governments. He started his career in 1979 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu state, as a research fellow, after he was retained at the completion of his degree programme in the same institution. In 1988, he moved to the University of Jos, Plateau state, where he became the head of the research division of the Institute of Education as a senior research fellow.
In 1991, he was appointed a professor of mathematics education and evaluation at the University of Jos. In 1993, he became the head of department, department of science, mathematics and technology education. From January 1994 to March 1994, he served as the special assistant on policy monitoring and evaluation to the then military administrator of Abia state.
From 1994 to 2000, he served as the director, monitoring and evaluation, National Primary Education Commission, Kaduna state. In 2000, he became the director, monitoring and evaluation, Universal Basic Education Programme, Abuja. From 2003 to 2005, he served as the director, monitoring, research and statistics, National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Benin City in Edo state.
The new NECO boss, an erudite scholar and astute administration, has many publications to his credit.
A non controversial man, Obioma has achieved a life time dream of rising above the impoverished background of his time through diligence, determination, focus and hard work with one phase of his life seamlessly rolling into another like carefully written pages of a book about life. His stellar performances in human service delivery projected him to the global map in no time, the International Bureau of Education, (IBE), which is the world`s leading organization in curriculum planning and educational development, at its 63rd Annual Conference, which was well attended by member states, overwhelmingly elected Obioma as the new President of the International Bureau of Education arm of United Nation’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. A position he held for two years. Professor Obioma, who is one of the world’s most experienced technocrats in curriculum development, played critical roles in shaping the future of IBE in the last few years, making far reaching contributions to the growth of the organisation. Like a Daniel who has come to judgment, Obioma no doubt will be facing a daunting task at NECO. The challenges in the exam body would require an experience and internationally exposed person like Obioma to cleanse the Augean Table. President Buhari must have made the right decision in his appointment of Obioma as public expectation was high for the president to do the needful with respect to given the exam body the right leadership.
Over the past years NECO has witnessed unprecedented administrative decay and malfeasance that often time elicited public outrage, coupled with a score card of the council that has never been sparkling. In a nutshell, the story of NECO in the past years has not been inspiring for education stakeholders. It is not that the council lacked trained leadership. NECO has been fortunate to have at its helm of affairs academics. Since inception of the council, one professor or another had presided over the administrations and generally, the operations of the council. The question is where did it get it wrong?
Ironically, the ethos of NECO are anchored on professionalism, service delivery, Punctuality/timeliness, Client Satisfaction, Precise and Accurate information, Good Attitude, Integrity, Commitment, Zero Tolerance for Impunity and Excellence. The aim is to bring NECO to global standard and best practices in line with modern trends in educational assessment.
NECO, a public examination body is charged with the arduous task of conducting the school based Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), alongside the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Junior Secondary Schools as well as the National Common Entrance Examination into federal government colleges in the country. Before Obioma’s assumption of office, each passing year the council got itself into one controversy or another and caused public confidence in it to continue to dim. Unfortunately, the expected change and turn around of the council was elusive for many years after this home grown public exam body came into existence. So, the challenges facing the council have kept increasing. The past leadership seemed to have been hitting the wrong target through wrong policies that didn’t bring about real change. A proverb among Ndigbo would describe this sort of situation as either the hunter didn’t know how to shoot or his arrow is not sharp, causing him to miss the mark perennially.
Obioma’s first task on resumption would consist of undertaking a critical review and assessment of the activities of NECO and thereafter initiate policies and programmes that will bring about real change and positive turn around in the Council.
Education stakeholders have recommended several reforms to effect curriculum change and improve the quality of education, but the albatross is poor implementation by the various levels of government.
They expect that the coming of Obioma would not just improve on the dividends of NECO but also to transcend the horizon of testing, measurement or evaluation. Staff welfare has been a major concern of any leader focused on reviewing the activities of the council. Obioma cannot afford to place it in his non priority or pending list.
Nwokocha writes from Lagos