(Socio-politico-economic clinicals)
Over the last couple of days, the story of young Mmesoma hit the airwaves with a cacophony of reactions, accusations and counter accusations.
Like a ritual of sorts, students with high UTME scores Pan-Nigeria are often eulogised and awarded cash prices, among others, in a bid to reward excellence and spur others to aim for such.
Little wonder Mmesoma Ejikeme was the cynosure of all eyes even as her state government had slated her for special recognition.
Perhaps, this represented the last straw that broke the camel’s back as JAMB denounced the results she was parading setting the stage for the drama of authentication to unfold.
Nigerians, in their characteristic manner, rose to the occasion in sympathy with a little girl who was at the brink of marginalisation and at the verge of losing what she worked so hard for.
The proprietor of the centre, the charismatic former FRSC helmsman and Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, issued statements to absolve his centre of any complicity in the issue while utilising the opportunity to call on the electoral empire to tow the path of JAMB who were willing to provide requisite evidences to counter the claim of the girl in the middle of the storm.
Events were to take a twist when after the myriad of support garnered and the implicit confidence on the girl in question reiterated,she made a startling confession that she was the dramatis personae in the play and the artisan that perfected the craft.
This allusion by Mmesoma brings to the fore the state of decadence Nigeria’s educational system has been plunged into in recent years.
With the avalanche of reforms aimed at restructuring the nation’s educational system due to undue emphasis on certification rather than sabification, and with cases like Mmesoma’s springing up, it depicts the need for urgent surgical procedures on the system to salvage it from imminent extermination.
While it is common knowledge that some parents have made it a habit to pay for miracle centres and mercenaries to ensure their children pass external examinations in flying colors even when they cannot defend such results, that a little girl of 19 could initiate and perpetuate such absurdity leaves much to be desired and is a clear indicator that we could be sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
This brings to the fore the need for degree awarding institutions to screen applicants credentials meticulously as they are several Mmesomas in the system.
This aside, the Nigerian society must urgently de-emphasize paper qualifications without requisite capacities and place more emphasis on what people can do rather than parading bogus certificates with zero abilities.
It is only until this is done will the nation experience exponential development and the likes of potential Mmesoma’s discouraged.
Nigeria cannot continue to churn out graduates who cannot contribute to national advancement.
We must arise as a nation to right the wrongs that have become the norm in our educational system and the time to do so is now.
*Edidiong S.Akpabio, Author, Researcher and Public Affairs Analyst, can be reached on esakpabio@yahoo.co.uk
