By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
“The North has always been behind in education, we’ve continuously been the disadvantaged region right from independence even though we’re given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That has not helped, in fact, it has made our people lazy.”
“The continuous closure of schools is exactly what bandits and Boko Haram want and we are not going to let them win but we must put the safety of our children and teachers first. The gradual reopening of schools would commence soon.”
These are the latest public words of Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai, a Fulani supremacist who pandered to Islamist jihadists for years until Boko Haram terrorism forced him to close all primary and secondary schools in the state on August 6.
Before then, in fear of kidnappers, he had secretly withdrawn his own son from school to be taught at Government House, probably the only safe place in the state.
El-Rufai urged the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to stop giving “preferential scores” to Northern students who write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Northern students should be given the same cut-off marks as their counterparts in the South for them to be competitive nationally and internationally, he argued on Channels Television monitored by The PUNCH.
The JAMB Act of 1978 empowers it “to conduct matriculation examinations for entry into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country and to place suitably qualified candidates in the available places in these institutions.”
JAMB set cut-off marks across the country until last month when it cancelled general benchmarks for the 2021/2022 academic session and gave institutions the freedom to set their individual minimum marks for admission.
Schools determine cut-off marks, JAMB replies El-Rufai
JAMB replied El-Rufai, insisting that it does not award “preferential cut-off marks” to Northern students who write the UTME.
JAMB Information and Media Head Fabian Benjamin told The PUNCH that El-Rufai, was wrong in saying that Northern students get special privileges or lower cut-off marks different from those of Southern students.
JAMB has never set minimum scores, he said, because its job is “conducting matriculation examinations for entry into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country and to place suitably qualified candidates in the available places in these institutions.”
Benjamin added: “We don’t give preferential or differential cut-off marks to candidates. Candidates are admitted on the scores as defined by institutions.
“As for the UTME, they sit for the examination and it is what they obtain that is the basis for their selection after the policy meeting has authorised the commencement of admission.
“There are no preferential cut-off marks for anybody.
“What people refer to as the cut-off mark is the minimum score and each institution sets its own minimum score; it is a function of performance in the UTME for the year, subscription to programmes and institutions that is how many candidates have applied to the institutions or for the programmes.
“These are what push the minimum score either up or down for institutions or programmes.
“The determining factor is the subscription to a particular programme or school. If the subscription is very low, technically, it will affect the minimum score for the programme.”
Terrorists won’t win in Kaduna, El-Rufai assures
El-Rufai said his closure of all primary and secondary schools in Kaduna on August 6 achieved the major goal of terrorists oppressing the state but they will not win.
“The North has always been behind in education, we’ve continuously been the disadvantaged region right from independence even though we’re given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That has not helped, in fact, it has made our people lazy.
“Against this differential JAMB and FG [federal government] scores, I think people should be encouraged to work hard and compete and we are prepared to make our children in Kaduna State to be competitive, not only in the state but globally.
“The schools are closed now because, on the advice of security agencies, they need a couple of months to undertake massive security operations. They are doing that. We are confident that from the next two weeks, we would start the gradual reopening of schools.
“We have moved many of our students in rural areas that we are not sure we can protect to urban schools, thereby increasing the congestion in urban schools that we can protect.”
“The continuous closure of schools is exactly what bandits and Boko Haram want and we are not going to let them win but we must put the safety of our children and teachers first. The gradual reopening of schools would commence soon.”
Jihadists kill 525 and kidnap 1,723 in six months
Kaduna is one of the worst hit by jihadists and kidnappers in recent times in spite of the heavy presence of military formations and institutions in the state.
Military formations in and around Kaduna city include:
· Jaji Military Cantonment, 1 Mech
· Division Headquarters, Nigerian Army
· New Barracks, otherwise known as ‘Kotoko’ Barracks
· Nigerian Defence Academy old site
· Kalanpazi Barracks (Artillery Regiment)
· Nigerian Air Force Base
Yet statistics compiled by the El-Rufai administration show that between January and June, terrorists killed 525 people and kidnapped 1,723.
Abductions in 2021 alone
March 11
Terrorists abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna and demanded N500 million ransom to free them.
April 20
Gunmen kidnapped 23 students of Greenfield University and a member of staff.
July 5
Gunmen stormed Bethel Baptist School, Damishi, Kaduna around 2am and abducted 121 pupils, according to school proprietor Ishaya Jangado.
July 24
Jihadists invaded the country’s foremost military institution, the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Afaka, Kaduna. They killed two officers and abducted one.
The NDA campus is opposite the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation.
The terrorists have released some students after their parents paid millions of naira in ransom but others have not come out alive.
More than 5,000 primary and schools in Kaduna remain shut in the ongoing military operations to flush out the Islamist murderers from the state.
Kaduna attracts $3b investment, despite terror
However, El-Rufai disclosed that the state has attracted about $3 billion foreign and local investments in the past two years despite the menace of Islamist jihadism.
He said the police and other security agencies are overwhelmed and there is need to train hundreds of vigilantes who will bear arms and confront the terrorists who operate from the forests of Kaduna.
“This banditry is essentially a rural phenomenon but it has moved to the urban areas. When it started in the state about three years ago, it was essentially a rural phenomenon and that has not affected our ability to attract investments in the state.
“In the last two years, we’ve attracted more than $2 billion, close to $3 billion, of foreign and domestic investments into the state.
“We’ve also engaged in massive infrastructure across the state, everywhere.”