Ojerinde, Okpala, School Owners Oppose Scrapping Of JAMB & NECO
Registrars of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examinations and National Examinations Council, Prof. Dibu Ojerindu and Prof. Promise Okpala, on Thursday, told the Senate that planned scrapping of the agencies would be counter-productive.
Also, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools has opposed the planned policy, describing it as inconsistent and contradictory.
Both Ojerinde and Okpala said this on Thursday in Abuja.
However, the Minister of State of Education, Nyesom Wike, while briefing the Senate Committee on Education, said the Federal Government had not scrapped the agencies as Nigerians were made to believe.
The Steve Oronsaye Committee had recommended the abolition of NECO and UTME as part of the Federal Government’s efforts at bringing down the number of agencies of government in order to cut down the cost of governance.
Wike described the information as a rumour that should be disregarded as a panel had been put in place to take a look at the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye’s committee.
“There is no time this government scrapped JAMB and NECO. We have not met as a government to take a decision on whether NECO should go or JAMB should stay. This government is a listening one. Whenever a decision is reached on this matter, it will be in the interest of Nigerians,” Wike said.
He noted that if government would take such a decision, the stakeholders and the agencies involved would be consulted and reasons would be given.
Ojerinde, however, noted that the idea of scrapping the UTME would not be cost effective for parents and candidates as they would pay more to gain access to tertiary institutions.
He said, “This country is greater than any one of us. The Nigerian child should be at the centre. UTME should not be scrapped. It will cost more for candidates to seek admissions into the various tertiary institutions.”
He argued that Nigerian children should be subjected to the same entrance examination before they go to our respective universities.
Also, Okpala said NECO had been the institution that had given the correct feedback to parents on the true academic situation of their children.
He said, “NECO does not fail students. We mark the scripts of the students using qualified and experienced secondary teachers.”
The NECO boss said the examination body had been able to check malpractices during examinations, so that pupils are not unnecessarily assisted either by school teachers or through mercenaries.
He said, although he would want the organisation to be supported to continue to exist, he was subject to the position of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, said since a committee of the Federal Government had recommended that the agencies should be removed, the issues had to be debated by Nigerians.
He noted that the intentions of government had been made known, and it would be necessary that the interest of Nigerians was taken into account in reaching conclusions on the matter
However, the National Chairman of NAPPS, Chief Yomi Otubela, while addressing newsmen on the issue, said that  the planned action would have negative effect on the academic future of pupils who have embraced NECO examination as option “B” to the West African Examination Council’s.
He stressed that NECO examination was the country’s national identity and should not be scrapped.
“When the news to scrap JAMB and NECO came, education stakeholders and many Nigerians viewed this as another policy somersault and inconsistency, taking into consideration that the education sector has witnessed a lot of setback as a result of unstable policies and practices in the past.
“This is another decision that is one step forward and two steps backward,” he said.
Otubela also argued that JAMB had lived up to its responsibilities in the last 30 years and should therefore be allowed to continue its job.
“The Federal Government should look before it leaps so that it does not suffer embarrassment or regret later. The National Assembly should also step into the matter. If we have to reduce the cost of governance, we have to check corruption rather than make the two examination bodies the scapegoats. We are also against the plan to terminate other parastatals as this move will further compound the problem of unemployment in the country,” he stressed.
Via PunchNG
