lacasa: I can see the South Easterners on board (this thread) claiming intellectual superiority already , because of a string of quotations from an article ;-\

i quite disagree & dare say, -

"Grades don't measure intelligence and age doesn't define maturity."

Taking Nairaland as a case in point, this wise words in quotes above^^, do, largely apply on this forum to a great deal.

Some of the most intelligent & fact based comments on Nairaland today r gotten from Non-south easterners mostly.


And, some of those members i кnoω personally to be from the Northern Part of Nigeria & the South West

aribisala0:

Ego from sentiments?

You are not a bright lad and have little of value to add to this discussion
. You ignore the obvious and substitute vitriol for argument.

Our constitutions HAVE ALL been clear that PRIMARY and SECONDARY education are the responsibilty of STATE governments.

If the FG gets involved in that it cannot be to the advantage of any single state.

Assuming Anambra has 10000 extra brilliant students that it cannot provide for in its schools that responsibility CANNOT transfer to the FG because they have set up UNITY schools.

The purpose of these schools is not to assume responsibility from the states.

If one grasps that fundamental notion then there is nothing to argue about

slam7000:


Being a walking encyclopedia and engaging in endless arguments or debates here on nairaland doesnt bring home the bacon.There are lots of intelligent people out there who cant win arguments but are blessed and naturally equipped in other areas to succeed in real life.
I know lots of people at alaba,mushin,kano and idumota who couldnt speak good english but could explore the amazon and conduct successful business with the primitive tribes and be back in nigeria hugely rewarded.I know lots of people who have gone to the sahara,interacted with the dangerous and xenophobic Touareg tribe and came back successful.Those people have not been to havard business school.
Nairaland comments and banters dont win you real life battles.
It takes more to succeed.

initiator: I can see the point that aribisala and co are making (save for his Achebe mentality distraction). However they fail to see the underlying problem with the quotas: that is ingraining a culture of privilaedge that does no service to the common good. Whoever or whichever tribe is granted concession over merit grows to expect that same priviledge all their life. I agree affirmative action is good at some point to help pull "disadvantaged groups," it must not be allowed to play for too long so it does not become a culture. A child in Kebbi should slug it out with one from Anambra.

The fellow mentioned the worldcup being a diverse assemblage despite the fact that europe, one of the smallest continents still gets more teams than asia and africa that are bigger. So there should be a merit list irrespective of states and then a quota list that is less. And I think this shouldn't last long. Instead i would support the federal govt funding states that are more disadvantaged at the primary level since that is the foundation of education anyway.

aribisala0:

This is not about affirmative action at all and that is where people miss the point.
Those schools were established with one objective.
To educate Nigerians of diverse backgrounds together whilst they are still "children".
That is the ONLY reason why the FG is involved otherwise secondary education is state government responsibility.
The FGCs were not set up with an agenda to address educational disadvantage and cannot do so because the numbers involved are tiny.The idea of slugging it out is a ridiculous one. To qualify as a UNITY school ALL must be present.There are other places where competition will be key but NOT in a UNITY SCHOOL.
So the fundamental point that people should address is
SHOULD THERE BE UNITY SCHOOLS IN THE FIRST PLACE If people are arguing that point that is a different mattter entirely and one I would willingly debate.
but we cannot turn round after saying we want UNITY schools to Find an argument where you have a school with 20 igbos and 20 yorubas and 1 Hausa man. It may be a very good school but IT IS NOT A UNITY SCHOOL. That is the point and we must ask WHAT BUSINESS HAS THE FG GOT WITH SUCH A SCHOOL?
The underlying problem as you call it simply suggests the schools be scrapped as secondary education is outside the purview of the FG

Sunny_bobo: Take for instance a state like Anambra state; here, indigenes from Anambra South and Anambra Central perform excellently well while perfornance in most part of Anambra North could be likened to what is obtainable in the North. In this case, would the people of Anambra North not be marginalized by using a blanket cut off for the whole state?

Aafulenu:

naa the total was 600 not four hundred cos i can remember i scored 570 and i was the best in my state then.

All this "what Igbos saw" argument is rubbish. It is the responsibility of Igbo,Yoruba or whatever states to provide secondary and primary education NOT the FG.

The Igbos from some specific states by far get more admission than probably every other ethnic group because they perform better at entrance examinations in my mind that is a simple fact. If that were to be the only criteria then those schools would be only for the Igbo.. I do not think this should happen with FG money. I also think this(quota system0 should happen to a much lesser degree at post secondary school level but Nigeria is a complex country and we need to understand,whoever we are ,that there are others who also have a stake in Nigeria and think carefully about how to proceed
One point though is this. How many of those Imo and Anambra candidates attend primary school in Imo and Anambra? Do they not take advantage of education in primary schools across the Country? We need to learn compromise and reciprocity

dayokanu:

You are correct cos I scored 551 and the best guy in my school scored 584

dayokanu: ^^ feeling like ke? Na you be chairman.

I think we even had different cut off for boys and girls from the same State

I think Aribisala is right, The motive of establishing those UNITY schools is not solely for excellence but also for UNITY and theres no UNITY when in a class of 30, everyone is from Anambra, or Bendel, Imo or Ogun

Sunny_bobo: Much as I appreciate the reason behind setting up unity schools and the use of quota system in the selection of students, I think the idea of setting cut off marks by state of origin doesn't go far enough to address the imbalance. Cut off points should be graded as per senatorial districts.

Take for instance a state like Anambra state; here, indigenes from Anambra South and Anambra Central perform excellently well while perfornance in most part of Anambra North could be likened to what is obtainable in the North. In this case, would the people of Anambra North not be marginalized by using a blanket cut off for the whole state?

ikp4succes: It makes sense, they are trying to diversify the school..and encourage those students with low cut off point states.

eaglechild: This does not make sense.
It means all i need to do is state that my child is from Yobe state.
On the exam day, he just has to appear, stare at the ceiling and hand in his papers at the end and voila! he gains admission into a unity school.
Meanwhile if he states Anambra with a score of 135 he is kicked out!
QUOTA SYSTEM IS THE STRONGEST FACTOR THAT HAS LED TO THE DOWNFALL OF EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY!

Lamenting the collapse of the education system in the state, the governor said: “In the entire Borno North, only two students qualified for university education, as they are the only candidates that have five credits each in the National Examination Council, NECO, and West African Examination Council, WAEC, examinations in
2011.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/borno-creates-jobs-to-fight-boko-haram/

kpencheruwe:



23 years ago i was a victim of this wicked policy.With a score of 380 i was denied admmision into FGC Ijaniki simply because i hailed from Bendel State, while those from lagos and other states with lesser score were admitted.Since then i hate all advocate of Federal xter.Pure rubbish.

Lagos state that gave them the land has no one in the school

aribisala0: If we say we want to organize a football game between Europe and Africa then the teams must be represntative.
The issue is one of balance quality is important but so is balance. If we say the Spanish team have the best players and they should represent Europe exclusively how will that look and will they receive wide support outside Spain?

No one ever said FGCs were NATIONAL CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE so this merit argument is funny.
Look at the size of land across the nation that many communities dedicated to these schools without compensation. Will you then tell them after entrance that there is no one from their community good enough for the school. Nigeria is a complex place and people should distinguish between textbook arguments and the real world. Human beings are quite hard to please and in a place like Nigeria no effort should be spared to give everyone a sense of belonging.

This is what I mean when I talk of the Achebe argument and that is this idea that in a nation like NIgeria everything should be done on "merit" and if this does not happen that is why things are not working. To me this is based on selfishness and a short term perspective. Firstly, because this does not happen anywhere and it is dishonest to pretend otherwise. Did George W Bush become President by Merit or Hilary Clinton a senator by merit?

We have decided in Nigeria to have a federal system and need to strengthen that. Nevertheless we fought a very bloody war and a DIRECT CONSEQUENCE of that was the creation of these schools.Now we have some people shouting merit. So that what please tell me ,So we have a Federal Government College in Kano for meritorius students from Imo and Anambra and maybe some from Ondo?? funded by the FG and then we triumphantly tell them it is because they are "stupid".
That for me is what Achebe is all about and some people just do NOT get it.

babyosisi:


Your argument holds no water,you even defeat your own argument
Towing your same line,this could be the reason our sportsmen are mediocre when they represent us
Because someone somewhere insists that every zone must be represented
If football is better played by bendelites and Igbos and they are the best players in the lot,why should they not be the only ones there?
Why must quota rear it's ugly head in sports
Here in America,almost always all the fast sprinters are blacks and almost always not just the USA but Canada,the UK,France even Czech Republic present black sprinters even though the country is overwhelming white.
In Kenya where everyone is black,I read that most of those long distance runners are from a particular tribe
Could it be that Yorubas have the gift of running ? ( no pun intended)
Could it be Akwaibomites?
Why should they not populate that team and get us the desired medals if they qualify as better than others
Quota has hurt us badly
It has produced mediocrity and nothing more
Why should someone be admitted with 136 and another be admitted not with 120 or 110 which are passing sores but with 29 ,35 and 0 to the same institution
Don't you see something wrong in it?

Aafulenu: all those shouting its unfair, its unfair. dont universities in the south do their admissions based on state of origin? and am talking about state university. talking about pot calling kettle black.

as someone has rightly said-
the way u cant tell cath schools who to admit, thats the same way u cant tell d fg who to admit. unity school were created for a reason and thats to create/enhance/implant the idea of unity in nigerian students as they are still young. so u dont expect them to fill the school up with one tribe just becos they passed more?

this reminds me of when i was serving in one of those command sec schools, i was appointed to compute their enterance exam, after computing, i was told to divide the results into soldiers, officers and civilians.

at the end of the day all the officers kids were given admission irrespective of their score, then all the soldiers kids were given the remaining space, luckly there were still open slots, so i was told to fill it up with the civilians. at the end a soldier child that scored 05 was given admission while a civilian's child who scored 75/100 wasnt given admission. i remember tell the commandant that it wasnt fair to the civilians. and his exact reply was SHUT UP!!! IS IT THEIR SCHOOL?
so will u guys also start bashing them? cos the school was created for the children of the military. that was d aim, if they had ueed merit then very few military kids will gain admission and almost all the civilians will.

munas:

At the bolded,there is nothing like federal character system in the US as obtained in Nigeria.
Its merits.

munas:

At the bolded,there is nothing like federal character system in the US as obtained in Nigeria.
Its merits.

toluene12:
actually, there is. It's called affirmative action. Special consideration is given to blacks, minorities and women above the mainstream white. Its been in existence for over 40 yrs now and many successful blacks benefitted from it. However, I'll admitt its very unpopular and calls have been made to end it. Some have even challenged it in court.

taharqa:
Wondaful!!