MC Usman:

I hope see the day when Northern elites will emulate their southern counterpart in sponsoring poor students on scholarship as done by their counterparts in the south.

I totally agree with you, it all boils down to them seeing education as a means of making the people to be too aware of their environment and their right, and till they realize that education is not a bad thing, they cant develop nor move forward, or do they expect the South to force them to go to school with some laws? there is freedom and human right gives them the choice to chose what they want, and so far, they have chosen the illiteracy path.

I don't agree that the North has the highest illiterate children in the world. Are the children of Afghanistan and Burkina Faso more educated than
the children of Northern Nigeria ?  I don't think so.

May be among the highest in the world, but not the highest.

STOP playing the ostrich, as of today you do not have any valid source to substantiate your claim. The situation in the North is already bad enough.

The North Central is not Majority Christian, but has the highest number of Christains than other region in the North.

Whether it is six or half a dozen, the indication is that the high percentage of Christians in the North Central has made that region to pull away from the illiteracy level plaguing the other regions in the north.

Without trying to be politically correct, the predominance of Islamic religion in the core north is overtly or covertly contributing to the educational backwardness of that region

Something urgent needs to be done on the mind set of an average northerner, to know that embracing western education does not stop them from practicing their religion, rather it helps them to improve their selfworth, liberate their minds, create better living opportunities and so on.

Solution is for the north to form thier own country or province North niger benue. in the 1960 they were better than what they have now. it tell you what they had in 1960 is what they should go back to.

Inasmuch as i blame North for their own wahala, i still dont support that they shd break away.

naijaking1:

Underestimate the power of sustained public relation effort, and northern political machinations at your own peril.
If you allocate #1million for 100 children in the north and same amount for 10,000 children in the south, then no one needs to tell you that it's only a question of time before people stop going to school in the south.

You have to think sometimes before you write. Have they not been allocating far more than that to lesser number of their children in the past? Today is 2008, where is their education? Have they been allocating anything in the past for Igbo children's education? We are in 2008 and Igbos are the most educated in your nigeria, so what's your point? Fact is, allocation or no allocation, we Igbos have our own personal money to use to send our children to school. We have never depended on and will never depend on that awusa/Yoruba government for any thing. Once we get our country Biafra, you will come and see what educational development is all about. Northern political machinations my foot. Do brainless people know anything about politics if not through barrel of gun? Nonsense!!!

Fhemmmy:

Inasmuch as i blame North for their own wahala, i still don't support that they should break away.

Look at this slave. What then are you afraid of? Can't you and your people rule yourselves? Then you will not have to contend with the everyday fear of Igbo domination (therefore we should do everything to hold them down while also holding ourselves down) which is the root cause of under development today in your country nigeria.

JUST A PIECE OF ADVICE: AS IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT THE NORTH NEEDS TO GO TO SCHOOL, PLEASE LET THEM NOT FIGHT IT BUT GET BACK TO SCHOOL. 'GO TO SCHOOL' IS A GOOD ADVICE. THANK GOD IT WAS THE WORLD BANK THAT MADE THE OBSERVATION. IF NOT, , THEY FOR DON CARRY MATCHET AND DAGA TO KILL THE IBOS AND BURN THEIR SHOPS.
ADVICE NO BE CURSE OHHH!

Nasogold:

JUST A PIECE OF ADVICE: AS IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT THE NORTH NEEDS TO GO TO SCHOOL, PLEASE LET THEM NOT FIGHT IT BUT GET BACK TO SCHOOL. 'GO TO SCHOOL' IS A GOOD ADVICE. THANK GOD IT WAS THE WORLD BANK THAT MADE THE OBSERVATION. IF NOT, , THEY FOR DON CARRY MATCHET AND DAGA TO KILL THE IBOS AND BURN THEIR SHOPS.
ADVICE NO BE CURSE OHHH!

Even that will not stop them from Igbo killing spree which they so much love to do. After all, Igbos had nothing to do with mohamed carton in far away Denmark, yet they killed the Igbos becuase of that. Ask tpia and his cohorts here how many Igbos they killed today in their northern enclave.

QuotaSyste:

You have to think sometimes before you write. Have they not been allocating far more than that to lesser number of their children in the past? Today is 2008, where is their education? Have they been allocating anything in the past for Igbo children's education? We are in 2008 and Igbos are the most educated in your nigeria, so what's your point? Fact is, allocation or no allocation, we Igbos have our own personal money to use to send our children to school. We have never depended on and will never depend on that awusa/Yoruba government for any thing. Once we get our country Biafra, you will come and see what educational development is all about. Northern political machinations my foot. Do brainless people know anything about politics if not through barrel of gun? Nonsense!!!

You say this about education in Igboland today, because you miserably fail to see that the machine pushing education for Igbo people today was made in the 1960, 70, 80/90s. You also fail to see that most Igbo boys don't go to school any more, ie beyond high school. It's only a matter of time before we the Igbos stagnate educationally, and some people like you don't even seem to notice the danger. No matter how much private support a people recieve for education, government assistance is still very much needed, especially in Nigeria. Biafra?, well wait till then, we have to survive educationally now.
No too much sense! Na too much sense cost us the war, na too much sense make Yoruba people take over the economic machinary of the nation while we ran petit trading all over naija. I beg wake up!

naijaking1:

You say this about education in Igboland today, because you miserably fail to see that the machine pushing education for Igbo people today was made in the 1960, 70, 80/90s. You also fail to see that most Igbo boys don't go to school any more, ie beyond high school. It's only a matter of time before we the Igbos stagnate educationally, and some people like you don't even seem to notice the danger. No matter how much private support a people recieve for education, government assistance is still very much needed, especially in Nigeria. Biafra?, well wait till then, we have to survive educationally now.
No too much sense! Na too much sense cost us the war, na too much sense make Yoruba people take over the economic machinary of the nation while we ran petit trading all over naija. I beg wake up!

Look at this anumanu trying so hard to be Igbo. Mr Igbo wannabe, you should ask you self wether your cousins, the awusas were sleeping as of  1960, 70, 80/90s when your so called machine which was pushing Igbo education as you claim was made. Anu mpam, that most Igbo boys don't go to school is a myth created by your Yoruba fathers and brothers as there is no bases to back up such ridiculous claim/assumption because all educational statistics in your luggard's cage from primary, secondary and JAMB are claming otherwise and still put Igbos far ahead of others with ernomous increase in every year's school enrollment to acquire the much needed education at all levels. So where is your point??

It is fact that you Yorubas and awusas have created the myth that you are more in population than Igbos when actually the Igbos are the most populated of all ethnic groups in nigeria going by fact. We deal with facts, not myths that was created through inflated and rigged census/population. If you doubt the fact that Igbos are the most populated in nigeria, then scrap this present laughing jakass census you fathers organized and reorganize another census with ETHNICITY AND RELIGION CLEARLY quoted for ticking in all census counting paper and lets see who will be most in number/population after counting.

The last time such was proposed by Igbo leaders, your fathers refused without any concrete reason as they already have their mind made up with inflating the census to assign themselves as more populated than Igbo. Until that is done, your awusa and Yoruba being the most in population will remain a myth just as your mythical "Igbo boys don't go to school"  Igbos are already the second most populated ethnic group in all states of your failed nation out of Igbo areas. So who said they are not the most populated in all of your nigeria? Afix ETHNICITY AND RELIGION in all census counting papers and let's square.

Facts on the ground with all available statistics still indicate that Igbos are in control of your luggard's cage economy and are the richest ethnic group with the highest standard of living in your makeshift country nigeria, yet believing in myth that your Yoruba people taking over the economic machinery of your failed nation will reign supreme in your myopic mind.  You Yorubas are not ashamed to claim to be the best educated in the country, even to the extent of spreading such self wound inflicting rumors in every nigeria forum, yet JAMB and other educational statistics on the ground states otherwise and tilts it to the Igbos. We deal with facts, not myth.

Government assistance my arrssss. We don't have to wait for your fathers with your useless government assistance while jeopardizing the educational future of our children as you have done to yours despiet connering all the oil money of the niger deltans. We have enough money through our private sector to send our children to school. You should do yourselves a favor and use that your government rubbish whatever money to send your own children to school so they can try and see if they can meet up with our children. Stop leaving your children at home to the menace of amala and tuwo. Anuofia nwuru anwu. Iche n' ide nonsense a idere, ome gi iburu onye Igbo otomatikali. Ewu awusa.

roflmao!!! oh my gosh!!! Why the name calling roflmao!!!

By the who, I belive Naijaking is on the mark there with the current state when it comes to Educations and the ibo people.

Kobojunkie:

roflmao!!! oh my gosh!!! Why the name calling roflmao!!!

By the who, I believe Naijaking is on the mark there with the current state when it comes to Educations and the ibo people.

No, he's dead wrong. "Igbo Boys don't go to school" is a myth that refused to go away.

Queen , the yorubas are educational disadvantage, i agree with you.

It is not a myth. Is Highschool Education enough in this day and age?? You and I will at least agree that even a college degree does not seem to carry the same clout it used to. High school education, especially in Nigeria, does not expose people to enough information. I have to say, from what I have seen around in the east, I would not consider the educated to be in the majority.

It remains a MYTH. You musta seen double in that case because there is a huge percentage of the boys in tetiary institutions. You probably did a census of the motor park touts  . Many of those who missed out on tetiary institutions went back. I am well aware there are those who wouldn't be bothered after high school but the last time I checked, getting into ''school'' was almost like a fashion statement to the point where the title "student'' became one of those Nigerian 'status', nearly everyone scrambled to get that glorious ''chieftancy title'' which came with lots of ''benefits'' including huge discounts from mama put and buka  .

Your claim reminds me of one man  I met in New York who's never been to Nigeria in 15 years but he was quick to proclaim with authority that "Igbo boys don't go to school anymore". I was just a few months old in the country so I took a little time to educate the delirious armchair analist. Nobody is claiming that every Igbo boy goes to school but the concept of "most Igbo boys are school drop outs" is a myth that refused to go away.

A man that has not been to Nigeria in 15 years?? You mean all the trips I have taken, even this years does not count at all Na wa oohh!!! It is ok for you to believe it is a myth. I mean afterall I have heard people tell me that the Nigerian school system is doing great, yet 18 million students are reported to be out of school/have never been to school. There are people who believe that sending their kids back to the public school system down in Nigeria will do them a lot of good and expose them to better information that the kids have access to here. To each his own, right??

I still believe the ibos are not as educated as the yorubas are. If you take a census here of ibos vs yorubas in school, I believe the reality will be that the yorubas outnumber the ibos by far. I mean you do not need to look heard to note that hausas are seriously lagging in that department, both at home and abroad.

Nope, I am just saying you can't claim to know more than the person on the ground. . .

grafikdon:

Nope, I am just saying you can't claim to know more than the person on the ground. . .

YOU SURE ROFLMAO!!! you don look this place finish make that kind statement?? ROFLMAO!!

Kobojunkie:

YOU SURE ROFLMAO!!! you don look this place finish make that kind statement?? ROFLMAO!!

Yup! Trust me on this one, I am the guy with an ear to the ground. I don look everywhere. . . except Okija shrine since I want to be alive to tell the tale . . . 

What is still baffling is that the part of the country that has the highest number of illiterate children and Adults, the highest disease rate is the same part that has produced most of our presidents and rulers.

Okija_juju:

What is still baffling is that the part of the country that has the highest number of illiterate children and Adults, the highest disease rate is the same part that has produced most of our presidents and rulers.

Your answer, my brothers lies on the fact that we Igbos have always under-estimated the Hausas, everytime! From the time of Independence, to Aburi, to the civil war, to Shagari/Ekwueme, to Abacha and IBB.

That is why Quotasystem believes that by dominating the manial private sector, we would always survive-wrong. All it takes to neutralize all the gains in the private sector is one swipe of a governmental policy----- if you're too young to understand, ask people who survived Awolowo/OBJ 20 pounds policy for Biafra.

We may be allowed to carry out our petty trading at Onitsha and Aba, but when the money gets plenty, political eyebrows are raised, and government could step in one swoop and take every thing, ask the so-called rich Igbo businessmen, from Nnanna-Kalu, to Ibeto, to late Ekenedilichukwu, to Coscharis.

QuotaSyste:

Look at this anumanu trying so hard to be Igbo. Mr Igbo wannabe, you should ask you self wether your cousins, the awusas were sleeping as of  1960, 70, 80/90s when your so called machine which was pushing Igbo education as you claim was made. Anu mpam, that most Igbo boys don't go to school is a myth created by your Yoruba fathers and brothers as there is no bases to back up such ridiculous claim/assumption because all educational statistics in your luggard's cage from primary, secondary and JAMB are claming otherwise and still put Igbos far ahead of others with ernomous increase in every year's school enrollment to acquire the much needed education at all levels. So where is your point??

It is fact that you Yorubas and awusas have created the myth that you are more in population than Igbos when actually the Igbos are the most populated of all ethnic groups in nigeria going by fact. We deal with facts, not myths that was created through inflated and rigged census/population. If you doubt the fact that Igbos are the most populated in nigeria, then scrap this present laughing jakass census you fathers organized and reorganize another census with ETHNICITY AND RELIGION CLEARLY quoted for ticking in all census counting paper and lets see who will be most in number/population after counting.

The last time such was proposed by Igbo leaders, your fathers refused without any concrete reason as they already have their mind made up with inflating the census to assign themselves as more populated than Igbo. Until that is done, your awusa and Yoruba being the most in population will remain a myth just as your mythical "Igbo boys don't go to school"  Igbos are already the second most populated ethnic group in all states of your failed nation out of Igbo areas. So who said they are not the most populated in all of your nigeria? Afix ETHNICITY AND RELIGION in all census counting papers and let's square.

Facts on the ground with all available statistics still indicate that Igbos are in control of your luggard's cage economy and are the richest ethnic group with the highest standard of living in your makeshift country nigeria, yet believing in myth that your Yoruba people taking over the economic machinery of your failed nation will reign supreme in your myopic mind.  You Yorubas are not ashamed to claim to be the best educated in the country, even to the extent of spreading such self wound inflicting rumors in every nigeria forum, yet JAMB and other educational statistics on the ground states otherwise and tilts it to the Igbos. We deal with facts, not myth.

Government assistance my arrssss. We don't have to wait for your fathers with your useless government assistance while jeopardizing the educational future of our children as you have done to yours despiet connering all the oil money of the niger deltans. We have enough money through our private sector to send our children to school. You should do yourselves a favor and use that your government rubbish whatever money to send your own children to school so they can try and see if they can meet up with our children. Stop leaving your children at home to the menace of amala and tuwo. Anuofia nwuru anwu. Iche n' ide nonsense a idere, ome gi iburu onye Igbo otomatikali. Ewu awusa.

Nwokem, I guru akwukwo Ubesie, k'obu Ogbalu? Otomatikali? German? Ihere m'egbue gi. I tufuru ego n'akwukwo abalia iguru.

Kobojunkie:

It is not a myth. Is Highschool Education enough in this day and age?? You and I will at least agree that even a college degree does not seem to carry the same clout it used to. High school education, especially in Nigeria, does not expose people to enough information. I have to say, from what I have seen around in the east, I would not consider the educated to be in the majority.

Don't you see how stupid your Yoruba head sounds when cornered? You were prompted by your makeshift myth created by your fathers to deceive you Yorubas that you are more educated than Igbos, and that made you to believe that most Igbo boys don't go to school and when you were  confronted with facts/statistics on ground from primary education to JAMB which says otherwise, you came back pointing out that high school education is not enough in this day and age.
You should be better serving your Yoruba people to get them to enroll into high school first before advising Igbos. the last time i checked, anyone must have gone through high school before dreaming of taking JAMB exam, and JAMB says and has it on fact/record that Igbos are the highest in number year in year out from time immemorial in all university students in your makeshift country nigeria. I wonder which other high school education that those Igbos passed through before taking their JAMB exams. Might be high school education in Cameroun?

Your fathers created a moronic population census to assume that Yorubas are higher in population than the Igbos, yet upon your myth population superiority, your number of students that passed through JAMB aren't anywhere near the Igbo's. Since you claim to be educated more than the Igbos and also higher in population than the Igbos, why aren't you Yorubas with your myth population superiority and myth educational advantage churning out more numbers of university students more than the Igbos?

Calculate the average to see that you Yorubas upon your created myths here and there couldn't make it anywhere more than Igbos in numbers of the educated among the two. Since you claim to be more in number and also better educated than Igbos, it would be fair also for JAMB to state it clear that you have more of the university students in nigeria than Igbos. Ain't it so? or is JAMB also playing ojoro against you Yorubas?
Who knows the impact that this Yoruba created myth would have had on some Igbos if there was nothing like JAMB statistics to make things clear. Some silly Igbos are even buying into their myth that Yorubas and awusas are more in population than them just because there is no accurate census data out there to state otherwise. Thanks to JAMB statistics, but what if JAMB statistics were not there. What would have been the belief?

Kobojunkie:

A man that has not been to Nigeria in 15 years?? You mean all the trips I have taken, even this years does not count at all Na wa oohh!!! It is ok for you to believe it is a myth. I mean afterall I have heard people tell me that the Nigerian school system is doing great, yet 18 million students are reported to be out of school/have never been to school. There are people who believe that sending their kids back to the public school system down in Nigeria will do them a lot of good and expose them to better information that the kids have access to here. To each his own, right??

I still believe the ibos are not as educated as the yorubas are. If you take a census here of ibos vs yorubas in school, I believe the reality will be that the yorubas outnumber the ibos by far. I mean you do not need to look heard to note that hausas are seriously lagging in that department, both at home and abroad.

First of all, no body except maybe Yorubas and awusas will tell you that your nigeria's school system is doing great. You just created that sentence to buttress your useless points. Every sane human knows that Yoruba and awusa led government have jointly killed the education system in nigeria, but as i said, only the people of those two ethnic groups only believe in the myth created by their fathers that their makeshift country's educational system is among the best in the world.
You still believe that Igbos are not as educated as the Yorubas only in nairaland. Ewu, haven't you see JAMB statistics? ohhh, maybe we should start using nairaland statistics. Even at that, you still won't believe that you Yorubas are no where near Igbos in education. Thanks to the myths created by your fathers that have had a huge impact in the minds of you Yorubas. You believe in reality and that reality is obtained in nairaland and not JAMB statistics? Olodo nairaland reality.

A mind like yours is definitely not worth it. Goodluck with your rambling!!!

Okija_juju:

What is still baffling is that the part of the country that has the highest number of illiterate children and Adults, the highest disease rate is the same part that has produced most of our presidents and rulers.

Enyi oko, stop thinking straight. Use your brain sometimes, that's what it's made for. Their holding on to power as you pinted above and producing most of the rulers of their makeshift country nigeria is because of the military assistance they get from the evil British people. Do you know that all nigeria's military installations/bases are stationed in their northern nigeria enclave and this was made possible by the British for their end means?

It is not a rocket science to know that the British rigged the first census and election in the northerner's favor and that trend have been followed and perfected since then with military force. British did that because they saw in them that muguish trait they are looking for in a people they will trust to hold down and look after the niger delta oil for them after they have left.
The British can't get such guarantee from the Igbos as we will tell them to go Bleep themselves and do things our own rightful way there by making them the British to lose out on the long run which they so much feared then.

Today, try turning the useless one sided power that was created in their favor by the British and see them running down to No 10 Downing Street London for military help/support to quash you, and guess what? their masters the evil British will be more than ever willing to grant them such support without asking questions, since at the long run and what ever may be the outcome, it is still to theirs, the British favor, because according to their evil policy, the niger delta oil must be kept flowing without any hindrance by anyone, even the owners the niger deltans. The recent niger delta uprising and how the British helped to quash it (Yes, Ya'radua went to Britain and seek for military support) readily comes to mind if you have forgotten the case of Biafra then.

So use your brain and don't just open your mouth gbua gbua and say upon their educational backwardness and diseases, they are still ruling the country. You should know why and how that was possible and if you don't know, then ask question. They can't do it by themselves without outside evil forces with military support which happens to be Britain.

grafikdon:

Yup! Trust me on this one, I am the guy with an ear to the ground. I don look everywhere. . . except Okija shrine since I want to be alive to tell the tale . . .  

I am sorry, I only trust what I know to be fact and not what someone tells me because he or she assumes self more knowledgable when it comes to Nigeria simply cause he/she believes he is on the "GROUND". This for me has nothing to do with tribalism or the sort. Heck, I do not pledge allegiance to any one tribe in that country. I do know from the much I have seen, both here and in Nigeria, I can definitely state that

1) The Educational system is in shambles. There are so many Nigerians who do not believe that is the case. You still hear stories of how some Nigerian students being able to
win an award or two abroad translates to the school system in Nigeria being as good as those in developed countries. Some of those who have made similar claims are ibos.

2) The trend continue to show that Ibos are less educated than yorubas. This statement is not made  out of bias but simple from my observation as a Nigerian. Unless someone can show stats to prove otherwise, I believe I will hold to this until I see a change in this area.

3) Having a high school certificate  from one of the public schools in Nigeria is no longer enough when considering what it means to be educated.

The school i served in, the students were paid to go to school and given free 3 square meals a day. This was a sort of bribe on the part of the Zamfara govt to encourage these kids go to school but unfortunately, the half baked teachers they had there except the corpers that served in the school were more bent on getting these students to their farms during farming seasons. The kids preferred that to school work anyway. Its just their way of life. One cannot force education on them.

Kobojunkie
true, the educational system is in shambles, but when private schools come to the rescue, some people say that people who went there did not even pass JAMB. Now that is a laff, seeing the number of researches i had to conduct before graduation and my having n social life during those four years shld speak for itself because of the level of studying i had to do

naijaking1:

Your answer, my brothers lies on the fact that we Igbos have always under-estimated the Hausas, everytime! From the time of Independence, to Aburi, to the civil war, to Shagari/Ekwueme, to Abacha and IBB.

That is why Quotasystem believes that by dominating the manial private sector, we would always survive-wrong. All it takes to neutralize all the gains in the private sector is one swipe of a governmental policy----- if you're too young to understand, ask people who survived Awolowo/OBJ 20 pounds policy for Biafra.

We may be allowed to carry out our petty trading at Onitsha and Aba, but when the money gets plenty, political eyebrows are raised, and government could step in one swoop and take every thing, ask the so-called rich Igbo businessmen, from Nnanna-Kalu, to Ibeto, to late Ekenedilichukwu, to Coscharis.

You made valid points and that is what i have been saying. But that does not negate the fact that upon all their grip on power through military support to use in check mating and arresting the development of Igbos in all spheres of nigerian life from business to politics, Igbos are still better off than them economically. We have the best living standard in nigeria and that is what matters most in any country and this is only by our might despite their bring us down policies.

If you list fortune 500 companies in nigeria, Igbos will still have the most number of those companies owned by them from banks to Information technology to manufacturing. You need the list? (Don't talk about govt. aided stolen money invested in telecoms) Leave the competition ground level without hindrance with no policy and we will take over that sector and create more jobs for their nigeria's arssbroken university graduates. Talk of fear of the Igbos which is the downfall of nigeria. Come to petty trading as you put it, Igbos dominate it (counting success) by far margin of about 80% to 20% for the rest of other nigerians.

You and i knows that those policies they always create to bring our businesses down are only possible because of their grip on power which was made possible by no other people than the evil British. That is the reason why they are trying so much hard aided by their sons and daughters in nairaland to make sure that no Igbo person comes close to the presidency. Their fears? All those one sided policies will be quashed by Igbos and competition playing ground leveled for all to play.  

They can't withstand such as they simple can't compete favorably in any level playing ground with the Igbos.
They can only compete in this kind of environment where they use policies to check and terminate the business gains of Igbos and use their government aided stolen wealth to created big businesses which some misguided Igbos like you will come here to join them in glorifying as successful business empires. Who doesn't know how the likes of Glo's Mike Adenuga came into existence? is that business superiority when you don't allow others to play in the same level field?

Well, they have already shot themselves on the foot by declaring rotational government. Just wait until 2015 when Igbos must sure take over by any means. That is if nigeria still remain one country by then.

Kobojunkie:

I am sorry, I only trust what I know to be fact and not what someone tells me because he or she assumes self more knowledgable when it comes to Nigeria simply cause he/she believes he is on the "GROUND". This for me has nothing to do with tribalism or the sort. Heck, I do not pledge allegiance to any one tribe in that country. I do know from the much I have seen, both here and in Nigeria, I can definitely state that

1) The Educational system is in shambles. There are so many Nigerians who do not believe that is the case. You still hear stories of how some Nigerian students being able to
win an award or two abroad translates to the school system in Nigeria being as good as those in developed countries. Some of those who have made similar claims are ibos.

2) The trend continue to show that Ibos are less educated than yorubas. This statement is not made  out of bias but simple from my observation as a Nigerian. Unless someone can show stats to prove otherwise, I believe I will hold to this until I see a change in this area.

3) Having a high school certificate  from one of the public schools in Nigeria is no longer enough when considering what it means to be educated.

Your laughable rambling is no different from that of the New York armchair annalist, period. Once again, You cannot claim to know more than the person on the ground. You talk about fact but you want me to believe that 'majority' of Igbo boys are school drop outs based on what you have ''seen". That is the bone of contention here and not the state of the Nigerian educational system, which we all know is not exactly bread and butter.

Kobojunkie:

I am sorry, I only trust what I know to be fact and not what someone tells me because he or she assumes self more knowledgable when it comes to Nigeria simply cause he/she believes he is on the "GROUND". This for me has nothing to do with tribalism or the sort. Heck, I do not pledge allegiance to any one tribe in that country. I do know from the much I have seen, both here and in Nigeria, I can definitely state that

1) The Educational system is in shambles. There are so many Nigerians who do not believe that is the case. You still hear stories of how some Nigerian students being able to
win an award or two abroad translates to the school system in Nigeria being as good as those in developed countries. Some of those who have made similar claims are ibos.

2) The trend continue to show that Ibos are less educated than yorubas. This statement is not made  out of bias but simple from my observation as a Nigerian. Unless someone can show stats to prove otherwise, I believe I will hold to this until I see a change in this area.

3) Having a high school certificate  from one of the public schools in Nigeria is no longer enough when considering what it means to be educated.

At your bolded part above. That sounds stupid that you are waiting for someone to provide you with statistics that is just there at your finger tips on the WWW. Since you are waiting NAIRALAND statistics other than factual JAMB statistics, you can't get it. Here under is some facts for your knuckle head and if you are still not satisfied, you can visit the JAMB web site by yourselve. Ewu myth believer, you can't stop the Igbos with your father's created myth. Help your self with the facts below.


I had earlier written an article on Nigeriaworld.com website titled “Nd’igbo and School Enrollment (Friday, August 30, 2002), which was also published by Nigerdeltacongress.com (September 2002). Hallmark National Newspaper equally published it under the title “The Media and Academic Excellence” (November 6, 2002). I received a lot of mails commending me on the article. Equally, there were also some few mails that were antagonistic and full of bile. Though, none was able to disprove the facts I presented. I took it in my stride as one of the “fringe benefits” of being a commentator on national discourse.

I intend to do a further expose on Ndigbo as it concerns school enrollment in Nigeria and confront the lies peddled over the years with facts and we will see how they will crumble like a pack of cards. This article is to further elucidate the facts presented by Marcel Okeke in his article: “Ndi’gbo and the 2002 JAMB results” (The Guardian, Tuesday, December 3, 2002).

Marcel Okeke had stated thus:

“Save the Federal prisons said to have been pointed out by President Olusegun Obasanjo during a state visit to one of the South-Eastern states (as evidence of Federal presence), it is only in the area of educational institutions that the region may rank equal to the others. Today, apart from four Federal universities (including one of agriculture and one of technology) and a few other tertiary institutions, each of the five states in the zone owns a university and several higher institutions. Even at the lower levels (primary and secondary), the number of schools and enrolment keep growing in leaps and bounds despite the palpable neglect of the system by the politicians at the helm of affairs in the various States.

But, if the region has lost everything, politically and economically, as it seems for now, the 2001/2002 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination results just released, provides another eloquent proof that the education "industry" in the South-East is still indeed, a viable one. Obviously, the number of qualified persons seeking admission (and those eventually taken) from each state or zone of the country is a key index of the population and quality of students produced by the zone.”


Okeke went further to state:

“However, the 2001/2002 JAMB results remain not only a sign of hope and source of pride for the Igbo, but also another affirmation of their resilience and hegemony in the nation's education sector. This trend is rooted in the history of the people which culminated in the setting up of the first indigenous university by the South-Eastern Nigeria Government in the First Republic (1960, specifically), namely the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Subsequently, during the Second Republic, each of the two States that made up the region (Anambra and Imo) founded a university in addition to setting up several other tertiary institutions and secondary schools. Today, these universities are the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) and the Abia State University, Uturu.

Still, in spite of the ravages of military intervention and rulership, each of the five Igbo States today owns at least a university and several tertiary institutions. Even the states (including Anambra) where teachers are said to be owed backlog of several months' salaries, the governments' have managed to build more schools. And in these schools, although invasion by cultism and other social vices is a cause for concern, the performance of the students in public competitive examinations such as JAMB (as the current results show) speak volumes in favour of the standards. In this regard, too, the outcome of the Bournvita Teachers Awards the other day, amply affirm the relatively good quality of teaching/learning that still obtains in Igboland. As is already well known, the overall winner (secondary schools category) of the award was a teacher from one of the secondary schools in Owerri, Imo State.”


Okeke’s averment cannot be disputed. In fact, despite the fact that Anambra State public schools were on strike for a full academic session, the state still came second in the May/June 2002 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) overall results. Pupils in the state still went and enrolled for private extramural lessons and through their sheer doggedness, despite the state government’s insensitivity, were still able to achieve success.

My readers may be wandering whether I am obsessed with this idea of Igbo supremacy (or dominance) in school enrollment in Nigeria. Call it obsession if you like. Falsehood, if left unchallenged has the capacity to violently dethrone truth. Also, a lie repeated too often may assume the position of truth. I will continue to shout from the rooftop with such gusto which the dispellers of this falsehood have been going about their business until the awareness reaches a feverish pitch.

I will proceed to give just three examples of such untruths peddled in the Nigerian media:


1. Onome Osifo-Whiskey (Managing Editor, TELL Magazine): “In the spare parts mentality of his people, Nzeribe…”

Osifo-Whiskey made this insulting remark in the pages of TELL magazine in year 2000 after Senator Arthur Nzeribe moved a motion for the impeachment of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Meaning? Most Igbos do not go to school and are only good in “buying and selling”, especially “spare parts”.


2. Modupe Adelaja (Minister of Solid Minerals): “ It is a bad stigma that you are a traitor, that you left your country to fight on the other side. You can be doing your buying and selling…”

- December 10, 2001 at the ministerial press briefing to herald the year 2002 Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

Meaning? The Igbo should remain content with their “buying and selling” business and not bother to compete for public offices in Nigeria. In other words, Igbos in Nigeria are synonymous with trading and should leave political (and even economic) leadership to indigenes of other regions.


3. Olusegun Adeniyi (Editor, THISDAY, The Sunday Newspaper): ", a region (South East) where most young people are driven by the urge to make money with little or no value attached to mental self improvement"

I had argued earlier that all these are consistent with Igbo stereotyping. I will still quote Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s stand on this: "I found that there is an orchestrated attempt at intimidating the Igbo with their own shortcomings. And these are shortcomings that are rampant across the entire country”. ( Newswatch Magazine of April 8, 2002, p. 29)


I will now proceed to reproduce some of the data of candidate’s registration for 2001/2002 JAMB examination in terms of state of origin and the best three (four actually) performing candidates.


                         

                           FIRST SIX



STATES               TOTAL NO OF APPLICANTS    PERCENTAGE

1. Imo                                      95,984                               9.84

2. Delta                                    80,448                               8.25

3. Anambra                              64,296                               6.59

4. Edo                                    61,897                                 6.37

5. Ogun                                  54,272                                 5.60

6. Ondo                                  46,592                                4.70




                    LAST SIX



STATES               TOTAL NO OF APPLICANTS    PERCENTAGE

1. Borno                                    4,358                              0.43             

2. Taraba                                  2,934                              0.29

3. Katsina                                 2,530                              0.25

4. Kebbi                                    2,438                              0.24

5. Zamfara                                2,169                              0.22

6. Yobe                                     1,178                              0.12



I will now proceed to provide some data on the number of successful candidates from the Southeast, as well as the last three states. As shown by the JAMB results, there were ninety-five thousand (95,000) successful candidates.



   FIRST SIX STATES (PLUS EBONYI 

                     STATE)



STATE OF ORIGIN          NO. OF SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES         PERCENTAGE

1. Imo                                                 11,264                                     12.00

2. Anambra                                          9,320                                       10.00

3. Enugu                                              5,917                                        6.22

4.Delta                                                                                                                                 

5. Rivers

6. Abia                                                 5,088                                        5.34



* Ebonyi                                               1,793                                       1.88





                   LAST THREE


STATE OF ORIGIN     NO. OF SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES         PERCENTAGE


1. Taraba                                            358                                           0.38

2. Borno                                              220                                           0.23

3. Yobe                                               160                                           0.17


It should be noted that Edo, Ogun and Ondo States which were among the first six states in terms of number of applicants (by states of origin) gave way to Enugu, Rivers and Abia States in terms of successful candidates (by states of origin). Is it not a wonder that the “buyers and sellers” from the South_East got 35.44 percent of the overall successful candidates? Such falsehoods as peddled in some Nigeria news media flies in the face of the facts. I make bold to say that Igbos would have performed better than they did if there is free secondary education in the South East, as obtains in some parts of the country.

I equally wish to remind my readers that about a third of the population of Delta State are Igbos (I had erroneously stated ¼ in my last treatise). How did I arrive at this assertion? The Deltans of Igbo origin constitutes one of the three senatorial zones of Delta State. The Delta Igbos, commonly known as the Aniomas comprises the Aniochas, the Oshimillis, the Ikas and the Ndokwas. Infact, out of the 25 Local Government Areas in Delta State, the Aniomas have 9. Aniomas also have one senatorial zone, out of the three in Delta State. So, if one should make an off-handed estimation, one may hazard a guess that about about 1/3 of the Delta state successful candidates are Igbos. It is equally pertinent to state here that there is a substantial number of Igbos in Rivers State. Infact, after the Biafra/Nigeria civil war, many communities in the present Imo and Abia States were ceded to Rivers State (Ndoni/Egbema area and parts of Ndoki South of the Imo River). The state governments of these two states have severally called on the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to see that this injustice is redressed.

In this essay, I have gone a step further to trace what the trend was, in the last five years, in terms of number of applicants (by state of origin) and the number of successful candidates (by state of origin), for JAMB/UME examinations.


APPLICATION STATISTICS (JAMB/UME)

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/application/ume/ume2001

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/application/ume/ume2000

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/application/ume/ume1999

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/application/ume/ume1998

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/application/ume/ume1997


ADMISSION STATISTICS (JAMB/UME) (BY STATES)

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/admission/ume/ume2001/states/

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/admission/ume/ume2000/states/

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/admission/ume/ume1999/states/

http://www.jambng.com/statistics/admission/ume/ume1997/states/


The facts speak for themselves. Facts are sacred but opinions are free. As you can see, the above tables are self-explanatory.

In conclusion therefore, I wish to admonish my readers, no matter which side of the divide you belong, to digest this write-up with an open mind. Forgive me of my “exuberance” and “over-zealousness”. Examine the message, not the messenger.

grafikdon:


Your laughable rambling is no different from that of the New York armchair annalist, period. Once again, You cannot claim to know more than the person on the ground. You talk about fact but you want me to believe that 'majority' of Igbo boys are school drop outs based on what you have ''seen". That is the bone of contention here and not the state of the Nigerian educational system, which we all know is not exactly bread and butter.

Actually, I am not claiming to know more than you do but I can definitely say that you can not claim to know more than I do in this case as you have yet to show any proof to refute my claim. So again, telling me you are on the ground means nothing and prooves nothing. As I have made it clear, it is my observation that the so called myth is not myth at all.  Prove me wrong but don't feed me with the old " YOU ARE NOT ON GROUND MEANS YOU DO NOT KNOW" line. For all I know, you could be in Afghanistan making that claim. So again, prove me wrong or accept that which you call myth may well be more reality than myth.


I have seen how people cling to tribal believes here but I do not understand how you came to the conclusion that I am in some way claiming majority of ibo boys are school dropouts. Last I checked, completing high school degree in Nigeria is enough for anyone to claim Educated in Nigeria. Is a high school certificate holder now considered a school dropout if he/she chooses not to continue to college, in Nigeria ?

Call it ramblings but so far what I can go on is what I see and have learnt. Only wish we had stats and data to back this up, then it would be more interesting but again, I do not trust in what I am told, I trust that which I know to be fact. If you have a problem with that, that is fine by me. Unless you are going to follow this claim that my "ramblings" are not factual with proof, you and I know this is futile.