₦airaland Forum

[/Before the Unrest in Libya caused by the Islam extremist , Libya was one of the best country in Africa when its comes to GDP

Only Libya will deport black Africans and give them 2,500 dollars.

Only Gaddafi supported the project of Kwame Nkrumah and Marcus Garvey United States of Africa and which Obasanjo,The Arabs and the White house were against.

Only Gaddafi opposed the Arab Nation exploiting the black Africans and its sad the black Africans are the ones against him now and now supporting the Islam extremist aka the Rebels , SMH

Gaddafi is the only head of state that supported the Black civil rights movement in America monetarily.

The same islam extemist gaddafi is reported killing are the same people killing the blacks in Libya, You people should seek caution Gaddafi did not become a dictator over night, This is another case of Kwame Nkrumah and Thomas Sankara two of the best leaders that were outed by the imperialist.

@deji.ariyo,
These are unassailable facts some of our neo-colonial co-travellers just do not get.
Cue the fact that Gadhafi’s government underwrites as much as 15% of the AU budget (much like Nigeria underwrites 70-80% of the ECOWAS budget) and you begin to understand the strategic role Libya has played in helping build the African Union – idiosyncrasies and despotic tendencies – notwithstanding.
What is more, if we pay close attention to the leaders of the so-called opposition, we are likely to find they comprise mainly of parochial Islamists as well as relics of the monarchical dynasty that once reigned supreme in Libya (hence the flag of the “new” revolution which is borrow for an inglorious era).
I am no apologist for Gadhafi, his brazen meddlesomeness in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Chad and – not so long ago – Nigeria.  But there is nothing he stands accused of, that a dozen other leaders in various parts of the world won’t easily top. Let’s speak truth to power for once: the assault led by Western powers is primarily about oil. Nothing else!
No other leader (Arab or European) has tendered an apology for the enslavement of Africans but Gadhafi.
This “humanitarian” gesture also serves as a useful distraction for leaders like Sarkozy, whose approval  rating has dwindled significantly in recent times; Berlusconi, who is occupied with sex-related charges in an Italian court; Cameron who, no doubt, hallucinates about Great Britannia.

As war creates new markets, most seasoned observers know the jewel in the eye is Libyan’s nationalized Oil Industry.

I stand with the AU on this one -  we need to find a different solution which would not reduce Libya to pre-colonial conditions through repeated bombing on her infrastructure.

With so many undesirable individuals being attracted to this particular line of work, there is a lot to be said about the qualifications required.

Indeed, let's hope the truth emerges.
Smiley was undoubtedly sailing close to the wind in recent years, but then he, like every one else, should have been guaranteed access to a fair hearing - regardless.

Smiley Culture's family holds press conference:
[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lskXMUvSOuk[/flash]

How could it possibly come to this - Smiley stabbing himself?
How is it that a cultural icon of his calibre enters a period of decline and there are no safety nets within the same industry he served (represented) to help break his fall?

It should not have ended like this  - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366543/Smiley-Culture-stabs-death-house-raid.html

Gone but not forgotten.
Your music lives on Nate.

'Nigerian History and Culture' edited by Richard Olaniyan - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nigerian-History-Culture-Richard-Olaniyan/dp/0582644321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299945621&sr=8-1 - was a book I first came across in '93 and one I readily recommend

Contributors include: Richard Olaniyan, Biodun Adediran, Nwanna Nzewunwa, I.A Akinjogbin, Toyin Falola, Akin Olunfemi, Ibrahim A Gambiri and others

All dictators should open a fund for people like this who allow their selfish theories deny other people's freedoms. well done.

Dictators eh?
Go on, apply your own "selfless theories" and let's see what you come up with.
Who propped up Mubarak with as much as $2 billion annually from 1979 onwards?
Even now, the people of Egypt remain far from certain that current machinations would not result in the installment of another stooge.

I suppose you see no contradiction in Saudi Arabia's promotion of "people's freedom" (as you put it)

==============================================================================
By Robert Fisk
Monday March 07 2011
Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in Benghazi.

The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a "day of rage" from its 10pc Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago.

Washington's request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later -- to America's chagrin -- also funded and armed the Taliban.

But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain -- even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis.

The Saudis have been told that opponents of Gaddafi need anti-tank rockets and mortars as a first priority to hold off attacks by Gaddafi's armour, and ground-to-air missiles to shoot down his fighter-bombers. Supplies could reach Benghazi within 48 hours but they would need to be delivered to air bases in Libya or to Benghazi airport. If the guerrillas can then go on to the offensive and assault Gaddafi's strongholds in western Libya, the political pressure on America and Nato -- not least from Republican members of Congress -- to establish a no-fly zone would be reduced.

US military planners have already made it clear that a zone of this kind would necessitate US air attacks on Libya's functioning, if seriously depleted, anti-aircraft missile bases, thus bringing Washington directly into the war on the side of Gaddafi's opponents.

For several days now, US Awacs surveillance aircraft have been flying around Libya, making constant contact with Malta air traffic control and requesting details of Libyan flight patterns, including journeys made in the past 48 hours by Gaddafi's private jet, which flew to Jordan and back to Libya just before the weekend.

Saudi Arabia is already facing dangers from a co-ordinated day of protest by its own Shia Muslim citizens who, emboldened by the Shia uprising in the neighbouring island of Bahrain, have called for street protests against the ruling family of al-Saud on Friday. Shia organisers claim that up to 20,000 protesters plan to demonstrate with women in the front rows to prevent the Saudi army from opening fire.

If the Saudi government accedes to America's request to send guns and missiles to Libyan rebels, however, it would be almost impossible for US President Barack Obama to condemn the kingdom for any violence against the Shias of the north-east provinces.

Thus has the Arab awakening, the demand for democracy in North Africa, the Shia revolt and the rising against Gaddafi become entangled in the space of just a few hours with US military priorities in the region. (© Independent News Service)

- Robert Fisk

Source: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/robert-fisk-america-hatches-secret-plan-to-arm-libyan-rebels-2568357.html

@Timehin,

Thanks for stripping away the veneer of hypocrisy which often shapes European/American involvement in African politics as you just did.

While Gadaffi is no poster-child for transparency in government, it is important we read the tea leaves well on this one.

The US never drags her feet at anything that concerns her strategic interests and you know it.
All I am asking for is a little more circumspection, less we find ourselves licking wounds after Berlin Conference MK II

I don't hear any condemnation originating from the same quarters about the treatment meted out to protesters in the Saudi Kingdom; do you?

Libya is far your archetypal Arab-state despite the eccentricities of its leader, a fact that is clear to most independent observers.

So, precisely what poverty informs the current insurrection or "revolution"?

Is it fair to lump Libya, a country with the highest standard of living in Africa which until recently attracted expat workers in tens of thousands from other parts of the world, in the same bracket as Egypt and Tunisia?

And what is the deal with France recognizing the "opposition"? Who is the opposition?
==============================================================
I came across the following post in a discussion concerning poverty in Africa a few days ago - in relation to French enterprise in Africa. Make of it what you will

"[b]Curiously, Africa's impoverishment benefits a lot of powerful interests.
If my home country sells US$1Billion worth of cacao on the world market, we are mandated - by agreements - to convert that revenue into French Francs (or Euros). One billion dollars automatically becomes €763Million. The same agreements also require that we transfer 65% of this revenues (€469Million) to the French treasury and another 20% (€534Million) to guarantee the convertibility of the FCFA and to service operations accounts respectively. From this transaction, a measly US$150Million ends up in our national treasury. That's not all! That revenue is pooled together with revenues generated by the other 15 countries from former French colonies and no one know what percentage of the pool belongs to each country AND the French treasury isn't required to disclose that information.

However, we do know that France hasn't had a balanced budget in 36 years, and every French woman is "entitled" to 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave (26 for a third child). So, why is Africa poor?[/b]"

Are we being misled by reports on Libya being served the western media?

=============================================================
"Operation Libya" and the Battle for Oil: Redrawing the Map of Africa -- http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23605

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, March 9, 2011

Part II

Part I Insurrection and Military Intervention: The US NATO Attempted Coup d'Etat in Libya?

The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.

Libya is among the World's largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.

"Operation Libya" is part of the broader military agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia which consists in gaining control and corporate ownership over more than sixty percent of the world's reserves of oil and natural gas, including oil and gas pipeline routes.

"Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, possess between 66.2 and 75.9 percent of total oil reserves, depending on the source and methodology of the estimate." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The "Demonization" of Muslims and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, January 4, 2007) .

With 46.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, (10 times those of Egypt), Libya is the largest oil economy in the African continent followed by Nigeria and Algeria (Oil and Gas Journal). In contrast, US proven oil reserves are of the order of 20.6 billion barrels (December 2008) according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves)

Note
The most recent estimates place Libya's oil reserves at 60 billion barrels. Its gas reserves at 1,500 billion m3. Its production has been between 1.3 and 1.7 million barrels a day, well below its productive capacity. Its longer term objective is three million b/d and a gas production of 2,600 million cubic feet a day, according to figures of the National Oil Corporation (NOC).

The (alternative) BP Statistical Energy Survey (2008) places Libya's proven oil reserves at 41.464 billion barrels at the end of 2007 which represents 3.34 % of the world's proven reserves. (Mbendi Oil and Gas in Libya - Overview).


Oil is the "Trophy" of US-NATO led Wars

An invasion of Libya under a humanitarian mandate would serve the same corporate interests as the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. The underlying objective is to take possession of Libya's oil reserves, destabilize the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and eventually privatize the country's oil industry, namely transfer the control and ownership of Libya's oil wealth into foreign hands.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) is ranked 25 among the world’s Top 100 Oil Companies. (The Energy Intelligence ranks NOC 25 among the world’s Top 100 companies. - Libyaonline.com)

The planned invasion of Libya, which is already underway is part of the broader "Battle for Oil". Close to 80 percent of Libya’s oil reserves are located in the Sirte Gulf basin of Eastern Libya. (See map below)

Libya is a Prize Economy. "War is good for business". Oil is the trophy of US-NATO led wars.

Wall Street, the Anglo-American oil giants, the US-EU weapons producers would be the unspoken beneficiaries of a US-NATO led military campaign directed against Libya.

Libyan oil is a bonanza for the Anglo-American oil giants. While the market value of crude oil is currently well in excess of 100 dollars a barrel, the cost of Libyan oil is extremely low, as low as $1.00 a barrel (according to one estimate). As one oil market expert commented somewhat cryptically:

"At $110 on the world market, the simple math gives Libya a $109 profit margin." (Libya Oil, Libya Oil One Country's $109 Profit on $110 Oil, EnergyandCapital.com March 12, 2008)

Foreign Oil Interests in Libya

Foreign oil companies operating prior to the insurrection in Libya include France's Total, Italy's ENI, The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), British Petroleum, the Spanish Oil consortium REPSOL, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Hess, Conoco Phillips.

Of significance, China plays a central role in the Libyan oil industry. The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) had until its repatriation a Chinese workforce in Libya of 30,000. British Petroleum (BP) in contrast had a British workforce of 40 which ahs been repatriated.

Eleven percent (11%) of Libyan oil exports are channelled to China. While there are no figures on the size and importance of CNPC's production and exploration activities, there are indications that they are sizeable.

More generally, China's presence in North Africa is considered by Washington to constitute an intrusion. From a geopolitical standpoint, China is an encroachment. The military campaign directed against Libya is intent upon excluding China from North Africa.

Also of importance is the role of Italy. ENI, the Italian oil consortium puts out 244,000 barrels of gas and oil, which represents almost 25 percent of Libya's total exports. ( Sky News: Foreign oil firms halt Libyan operations, February 23, 2011).

Among US companies in Libya, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) decided barely 6 months ago (October 2010) not to renew their oil and gas exploration licenses in Libya. (Why are Chevron and Oxy leaving Libya?: Voice of Russia, October 6, 2010). In contrast, in November 2010, Germany's oil company, R.W. DIA E signed a far-reaching agreement with Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) involving exploration and production sharing. AfricaNews - Libya: German oil firm signs prospecting deal - The AfricaNews,

The financial stakes as well as "the spoils of war" are extremely high. The military operation is intent upon dismantling Libya's financial institutions as well as confiscating billions of dollars of Libyan financial assets deposited in Western banks.

It should be emphasised that Libya's military capabilities, including its air defense system are weak.


Libya Oil Concessions


Redrawing the Map of Africa

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa. The objective of US-NATO interference is strategic: it consists in outright theft, in stealing the nation's oil wealth under the disguise of a humanitarian intervention.

This military operation is intent upon establishing US hegemony in North Africa, a region historically dominated by France and to lesser extent by Italy and Spain.

With regard to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, Washington's design is to weaken the political links of these countries to France and push for the installation of new political regimes which have a close rapport with the US. This weakening of France is part of a US imperial design. It is a historical process which goes back to the wars in Indochina.

US-NATO intervention leading to the eventual formation of a US puppet regime is also intent upon excluding China from the region and edging out China's National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). The Anglo-American oil giants including British Petroleum which signed an exploration contract in 2007 with the Ghadaffi government are among the potential "beneficiaries" of the proposed US-NATO military operation.

More generally, what is at stake is the redrawing of the map of Africa, a process of neo-colonial redivision, the scrapping of the demarcations of the 1884 Berlin Conference, the conquest of Africa by the United States in alliance with Britain, in a US-NATO led operation.

The colonial redivision of Africa. 1913

Libya: Strategic Saharan Gateway to Central Africa

Libya has borders with several countries which are France's sphere of influence including Algeria, Tunisia, Niger and Chad.

Chad is potentially an oil rich economy. ExxonMobil and Chevron have interests in Southern Chad including a pipeline project. Southern Chad is a gateway into the Darfur region of Sudan, which is also strategic in view of its oil wealth.

China has oil interests in both Chad and Sudan. The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed a farreaching agreement with the Chad government in 2007.

Niger is strategic to the United States in view of its extensive reserves of uranium. At present, France dominates the uranium industry in Niger through the French nuclear conglomerate Areva, formerly known as Cogema. China also has a stake in Niger's uranium industry.

More generally, the Southern border of Libya is strategic for the United States in its quest to extend its sphere of influence in Francophone Africa, a vast territory extending from North Africa to Central and Western Africa. Historically this region was part of France and Belgium's colonial empires, the borders of which were established at the Berlin Conference of 1884.


Source www.hobotraveler.com

The US played a passive role at the 1884 Berlin Conference. This new 21st Century redivision of the African continent, predicated on the control over oil, natural gas and strategic minerals (cobalt, uranium, chromium, manganese, platinum and uranium) largely supports dominant Anglo-American corporate interests.

US interference in North Africa redefines the geopolitics of an entire region. It undermines China and overshadows the influence of the European Union.

This new redivision of Africa not only weakens the role of the former colonial powers (including France and Italy) in North Africa. it is also part of a broader process of displacing and weakening France (and Belgium) over a large part of the African continent.

US puppet regimes have been installed in several African countries which historically were in the sphere of influence of France (and Belgium), including The Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Several countries in West Africa (including Côte d'Ivoire) are slated to become US proxy states.

The European Union is heavily dependent on the flow of Libyan oil. 85 percent of its oil is sold to European countries. In the case of a war with Libya, the supply of petroleum to Western Europe could be further disrupted, largely affecting Italy, France and Germany. Thirty percent of Italy's oil and 10 percent of its gas are imported from Libya. Libyan gas is fed through the Greenstream pipeline in the Mediterranean (See map below).

The implications of these potential disruptions are far-reaching. They also have a direct bearing on the relationship between the US and the European Union.


Greenstream pipeline linking Libya to Italy


Concluding Remarks

The mainstream media through massive disinformation is complicit in justifying a military agenda which, if carried out, would have devastating consequences not only for the Libyan people: the social and economic impacts would be felt Worldwide.

There are at present three distinct war theaters in the broader Middle East Central Asian region: Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq. In the case of an attack on Libya, a fourth war theater would be opened up in North Africa, with the risk of military escalation.

Public opinion must take cognizance of the hidden agenda behind this alleged humanitarian undertaking, heralded by the heads of state and heads of government of NATO countries as a "Just War". The Just War theory in both its classical and contemporary versions upholds war as a "humanitarian operation". It calls for military intervention on ethical and moral grounds against "rogue states" and "Islamic terrorists". The Just war theory demonizes the Ghadaffi regime while providing

The heads of state and heads of government of NATO countries are the architects of war and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an utterly twisted logic, they are heralded as the voices of reason, as the representatives of the "international community".

Realities are turned upside down. A humanitarian intervention is launched by war criminals in high office, who are the guardians of the Just War theory.

Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo,, Civilian casualties in Pakistan resulting from US drone attacks on town and villages, ordered by president Obama are not front page news, nor are the 2 million civilian deaths in Iraq. There is no such thing as a "Just War".

The history of US imperialism should be understood. The 2000 Report of the Project of the New American Century entitled "Rebuilding Americas' Defenses" calls for the implementation of a long war, a war of conquest. One of the main components of this military agenda is: to "Fight and decisively win in multiple, simultaneous theater wars".

Operation Libya is part of that process. It is another theater in the Pentagon's logic of "simultaneous theater wars".

The PNAC document faithfully reflects the evolution of US military doctrine since 2001. The US plans to be involved simultaneously in several war theaters in different regions of the World.

While protecting America, namely "National Security" of the United States of America is upheld as an objective, the PNAC report does spell out why these multiple theater wars are required. The humanitarian justification is not mentioned.

What is the purpose of America's military roadmap?

Libya is targeted because it is one among several remaining countries outside America's sphere of influence, which fail to conform to US demands. Libya is a country which has been selected as part of a military "road map" which consists of "multiple simultaneous theater wars". In the words of former NATO Commander Chief General Wesley Clark:

"in the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan, (Wesley Clark, Winning Modern Wars, p. 130).

But wait, didn't Pastor Chris also affirm he's got God's mandate to run?

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@fstranger1,

Yes! you can if you want


However, the real thing is Was Fafunwa right?

I have stack of articles written by Fafunwa over the years and I can tell you that his idea is the best thing to ever happen to Nigeria.

We just need our politicians to implement his ideas!

Oladele AwobuluyI, who wrote the article the article you referenced is right on the money.

When he posits that

[t]he teaching and [b]examination syllabuses for the language in Primary and Secondary Schools would appear to be over ambitious and therefore inappropriate for those two levels. Thus, primary school children being prepared for the Common Entrance Exam (used for determining admission into Secondary Schools) are expected to be able to tell, for instance, what verb forms, whether singular or plural, the English conjunctions "and" and "as well as" require, a matter which even most adult native speakers of English would not know for certain and would therefore tend to avoid[/b]

, he is arguing some of the same points I have made all along in regarding the current flawed system.
Note the emphasis I have placed on examination syllabuses

Further on in the same article, you read: "

[a]nother problem besetting the teaching of English relates to the books that are available locally in the language. Although the country has come a long way in regard to the production of locally written texts in English, a lot of books particularly for children nevertheless still have to be imported from abroad."

This is where the issue of literacy, which another contributor brought into sharp focus comes into play.
Most textbooks written for 11year olds are pitched toward those with a reading age of 12.75years. This is fine as 'reading age' is usually at least a couple of years higher than chronological age at that stage.
The problem is, we don't know if most of our 11year olds ever attain this required standard before leaving primary school, before setting them up for a fall 5 years down the road.

@fstranger1,
And I suppose this explains why you deleted the 2 posts which made reference to it (the article)?

Should we write to the Prof credited as the real author (http://ng.linkedin.com/pub/oladele-awobuluyi/a/b67/238) to find out more about your contribution?

@fstranger1,
WAEC-style plagiarism?
I am quite disappointed.

@AjanleKoko
See the link I provided

http://fafunwafoundation.tripod.com/fafunwafoundation/id8.html

The Teaching of English
English, as indicated much earlier, has for well over a century now continued to enjoy the pride of place in the nation's educational system. Thus, whereas indigenous languages are rarely given more than three lesson periods a week on the school time-table, English never has less than five periods, and may even be given as many as seven or eight periods particularly in schools that prepare students for the Oral English examination. Avidly patronised by commercial publishers,the language enjoys a profusion of pedagogical materials, and in this respect contrasts sharply with the indigenous languages, the vast majority of which lack enough materials for teaching them as L1 even for a few years in Primary School.
Nevertheless, the teaching of the language in the nation's schools has its own problems too, just as the teaching of the indigenous languages does, as indicated above. By far the most serious of such problems has to do with the quality of the teachers available for teaching the language. Nearly all such teachers are L2 speakers. Few L2 speakers who were themselves taught by other L2 speakers who, in their turn, had learned the language necessarily imperfectly from other L2 speakers of English in the nation's schools today have a good enough command of the written and spoken forms of the language, particularly the latter, that they could impart with confidence to their pupils. To make matters worse still, most such teachers have no training in Contractive Linguistics and therefore are unable to understand and consequently devise effective pedagogical strategies for combating the mostly mother-tongue induced kinds of learners' errors that recur in their pupils' written and oral performances in the language.
Another problem besetting the teaching of English relates to the books that are available locally in the language. Although the country has come a long way in regard to the production of locally written texts in English, a lot of books particularly for children nevertheless still have to be imported from abroad. And as such books are written and meant for other cultures than ours, one of their glaring shortcomings as books for the nation's schools is their cultural inappropriateness.

@tensor777,
I offered you a way out by letting the matter rest much earlier on but you keep bringing it up.

Anyway the point is that at each of the KEY STAGES the authorities in England have the explicit information to determine whether overall targets are being met to evaluate the performance of failing schools and provide parents a means by which the stsndard of schools can be assessed.

Honestly, it would not hurt if you did a little more digging to gain a better handle on what constitutes literacy and numeracy in relation to the English Schools Curriculum.
In particular look out for those strands I mentioned, if you are constrained by time.
I know this turf, trust me. I might have been regarded as an authority myself at one point

@eku_bear,

You need testing so that everyone can know which schools are doing well and which are not. You as a parent will use this information to decide where you want to send your kids (if your kid has the choice of the school that tops the nation in the exams versus the one that is near the bottom, which would you send them to?) The government will use this information to know which under-performing schools need to be investigated and possibly taken over. Employers will use this information. Universities will use this info.

Sure they will.
But what exactly is the quibble here?
Literacy forms an integral part of most language and literature curricula, ditto numeracy in Mathematics.
What would be the point in testing numeracy across the board for all 16 year olds, in isolation from trigonometry, algebra, data handling (statistics) - strands of the curriculum @tensor777 referenced earlier by mentioning key stage tests (while conflating issues in an obvious manner)

Your think most graduates can compete at numeracy tests with the boys who run after cars street-hawking in Oshodi, huh?
I should know, I reviewed studies taken in different parts of the world.
Is that the skill you would rather we waste money testing?
I said it was fine to do this up to age 11 in a formal setting, since there are only so many ways you can add/subtract numbers! What do you find contentious here?
Beyond this point, it has to be tested implicitly. Simple.

@ eku_bear

The problem is that we only have a certain amount of money and thus slots for college available. It would be nice if 100% could pass and gain admittance, but we don't have the money to let everyone do so.
To be very concrete, if we have only enough money for 100 slots, and 10,000 people take the exam, what do you suggest we do? Obviously, 9,900 are going to have to fail, will they not?
Or is it just the name that bothers you? We could call the top 100 people "high pass", the next 8000 "low pass", then the bottom 1900 "fail." But if only 100 people are going to get in, what is the difference between a low pass and a fail?

Even more importantly. . . not everyone is bright enough to go to college. Not trying to be an @ss, but that is just reality. There is no point trying to send a guy who cannot do 6th grade math to college. What will he gain from the experience? It is a waste of time and money.

But this post misses this essence of a testing system altogether.
I am all for a system that tests students according to their abilities, hence my prescription of the IB system which allows you to opt out a different stages. I could have sworn you understood this going by your earlier posts.
The problem with WAEC is you either sit it (regardless of your abilities) or you don't; there really is no middle ground.
This is not only unfair but serves to promote the ills I mentioned in an earlier post.

By all means let's test our students, but let's be fair in so doing. Simple.
For clarity let me re-state the 2 points I have maintained and sought to clarify at different stages (in relation to WAEC):
(1) The tests are outdated and not fit for purpose, due to inherent flaws which results in too many ill-fitting questions being recycled (not sure about the most recent years)
(2) The JJS/SSS system, which culminates in WAEC exams, needs to be scrapped for a fairer system (and I have proposed one) which recognises and accredits all abilities.
If it a student is only capable of a middle school diploma, let's give him just that, while allowing more able students to avail of more challenging options

Like you@eku_bear, I am prepared to examine possibilities for funding while arguing the current system needs to be taken apart.

Thanks for your @tensor777,

The argument is indeed circular since your own reasons for introducing the IB system are based on premises which I don't agree with.
You are saying that the fact that 75% of students do not get the required grades for university admission is a bad thing? I say it is not as not everyone can or should go to university

In case you missed it, I was not kidding earlier when I described a failure rate of 75% as a human-rights issue; for the simply reason that society become even more improverished because so many of our youth are considered failures!
We are talking about an issue that has far reaching ramifications here, one  that invariably shapes socio-policy whether you believe it or not.

I spent quite a bit of time studying the English educational system we framed ours upon and understand a lot of the struggles which ushered in the fairer system we see today.
You need to be concerned that 75% of students who sit an exam fail it year after year, if you see education as a fundamental human right.
If you ask most folks who schooled in England prior to 1954, they'll describe a 3-tier system which had students being branded as [b]eternal failures [/b]at age 11, because they failed grammar school exams.
At 11, folks knew if they were destined for a life in in the world of capentry or the the mines,  and so on.
Is this what your consider fair and just system? Think about the 75% failure rate which you wished away with a magic wand.
What are about slow-achievers, eh? What future do you map out for them?

Just like the welfare system which most people assume was always present in England, but which was borne of the struggle for a fairer system after WWWII, the education act of 1954 introduced greater equity by providing a genuine alternative to the grammar school (gold) standard.
John Prescott (Deputy PM to T.Blair) was one notable 11-plus failure who made good his blighted childhood; there were many others who never succeeded.

Lets be clear in that the exams could indeed be structured in such a way that as many as 50% of students get 5 credits in subjects including English and Maths.
And then what? They take UME But after this JAMB would still need to whittle down  the successful  candidates to an acceptable number. So what is the point?
Another point which seems to have escaped most people here is that there are NECO AND WAEC exams taken in june and november. So an unsuccessful candidate can stiil reach the requisite university admission standard by registering for and passing as many exams as possible over a calendar year. At the end of the day in any one calendar year these boards are able to produce more than enough candidates with 5 or more credits.
So in that wise there is absolutely no need to dumb down the current system of selecting candidates for university admission.

No one is suggesting dumbing down the current system (it already is).
Rather, what is being proposed is an alternative that caters for all abilities; one which also recognises most competitor-nations do not produce 19 year Bsc (Hons) graduates.

We also need to test numeracy and literacy skills of all students at different stages of their primary and secondary school education.

I see this line of reasoning persists, despite my earlier correction about the narrow scope these 2 strands form within the system you referred me onto.
Look, I would concede it is fine to have a private company administering these tests in schools, to reduce attendant costs, but see little merit in running them beyond age 11 (primary schools).

@tensor777

Yes I saw it. But can you inform us as to in what way adoption of the IB system would help the 75% who were unsucessful in the exams.
Explicitly what are the advantages that would accrue to stakeholders if such a system is adopted.

We appear to be going round in circles at this stage.
If you have a 75% failure rate in successive years with a different batch of students, spread across an[b] entire sub-region[/b], you need to look closely at the tests which form your basis of assessment.
Recall, I had earlier mentioned this is not simply a problem that affects Nigeria.

Secondly, I have offered up an alternative: a tailored made IB system which caters for 3-19 year olds in Nigeria (with multiple opt-out/in points).
This way, you cater for all abilities - a fact that underscores what comprehensive schooling is really about.
So if a student prefers to go down a technical route at age 13, this should an option with the proviso that the same student be allowed to rejoin the academic stream - on merit - at age 16 or later.

As for the advantages of the alternative I propose, you would need to do a bit of research of your own to form an opinion.
I am more than willing to answer specific questions you may have but not prepared to write up an essay on comparative analysis.

I refuse to sit here and crucify the majority of Nigerian students out there.
I know how flawed current teaching practice and follow-on assessment is so won't travel down this route.

@tensor777,

Do see my response in post 276?

@tensor777

BUT they do precisely that. Are the Key Stage tests not tests of numeracy and literacy. Again this has nothing to do with the examination boards you mentioned like Edexcel and OCR which are strictly private institutions. No the tests are carried out by the government itself.
These tests are used amongst other things to classify students according to ability and to evalute the performance of schools over a period of time.

My previous comments were in relation to GCSEs or IB Exams.
The Key Stage tests you now mention are designed to test more than numeracy and literacy in real terms.
These tests are generally used to classify students, as you rightly described, but are more overarching because they measure abilities according to strands defined in the National Curriculum.
Numeracy constitutes just one of several of these strands for Mathematics.
Ditto literacy

Thanks @eku_bear,

To be clear, I see better value in the baccalaureate system obtainable elsewhere in Europe and would sooner foist a tailor-made version of this on Nigeria, if I had my way.

Can you elaborate on this first point?

See, I have anchored my argument all along on the appropriateness of WAEC exams in today's Nigeria.
WAEC, by design, is a one-size-fits-all system.
It offers no exit/re-entry points for academically challenged students, whereas the baccalaureate system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Baccalaureate) does.
The bigger problem right now is that students cheat (they have too because the tests ill-fit), teachers fail to innovate, and even the arbitrator - WAEC - sets examinations that no longer test actual ability.
Testing becomes an end in itself as opposed to a viable tool for evaluation.

Nigeria should not be producing 19year old university graduates into a world of limited employment.

By adopting the IB-standard, our educational system would not only become more closely aligned with what is widely considered best practice but also a fairer system which caters for and encourages all abilities.

Finally, let me say this: mainly because those who tend to spearhead debates like this tend to excel within the current system, they are least likely to proffer useful solutions.
Call it a case of seeking safety in numbers.

Thanks for your comments@tensor777

Okay you want an English style system which allows students to specialize before going on to university.
Anyway the SSCE exams are NOT TESTS of numeracy and literacy and were never designed as such.
Yes there should be such tests instituted by the FGN but that is nothing to do with WAEC in any case.
It is entirely up to the Federal and State governments to ensure that the current system is providing value for money.

The English-styled system, on the contrary, is heavily flawed and subject to undergo a sea change over the next few years.
Let me make clear that any references I make to this system is because of WAEC's historical leanings towards some of the examination boards in England (ULEAC, EDEXCEL, JME, Oxford, , etc) and nothing more.
To be clear, I see better value in the baccalaureate system obtainable elsewhere in Europe and would sooner foist a tailor-made version of this on Nigeria, if I had my way.
What is more, the examinations which provide a basis for assessment in either of these systems do not test mere literacy and numeracy, certainly not within the secondary school system I know.

It is, as you say, up to the Federal Govt. to ensure any system adopted provides value for money, but I also think it would be a dereliction of one's civic responsibility not to contribute to the wider debate on current standards.

@Kobojunkie

I still do not see this as reason for the decline we have noticed over the decades. Considering this set of questions have been the same for so long, it makes no sense  to me to consider them now as possible root cause.

Let me put some flesh on the bones here.
Anyone who follows the educational system in the UK knows there are complaints from all quarters (industry; the business world; social commentators), concerning the standard of questions being set, once GCSE/GCE 'A' Levels are released each year .
Why do you think this is so?
Has the success rate in those same exams been increasing over the last 10 years or more? Yes!
Evidently there is a trend.
The questions are relevant, pitched in to match a range of abilities, much to the chagrin of those stuck in a time warp! This is what testing should be about.

My point here is, you cannot have our students (and others across the West Africa sub-region) achieving dwindling fortunes year after year and not call WAEC to account.

eku_bear,

A voucher program is fine in principle, sure.
But I need to ask if the ultimate objective here would be simply churning out high-flying secondary school leavers who have made the WAEC grade.
By this, of course, I mean high flyers who might have excelled at exams not fit for purpose.

A voucher scheme alongside a revamped educational system which offers the option of both an academic and a  technical route, on the other hand, is an idea I would be prepared to run with.
WAEC and NECO need to be canned in favour of exams that can reflect the comprehensive spread of abilities you'd expect to see in  thousands of 11 year olds.
The one-size-fits-all approach currently in place lies at the root of our students recurring failure and needs to be scrapped, when considered in a human-rights context.

@Kobojunkie
Nope, I have no access to the ministry's website. Do you?

On the issue of archaic language, you really need to read some of the questions written in the 60s that made it to some of the papers I reviewed several years ago.
I have come across words like "berth" in questions designed to test our secondary school leaver's abilities on 'bearings' in mathematics exams.
I mean, unless you are offering a dictionary as well, a number of students are disadvantaged from the get-go.
When faced with questions like 12.40% of 55.60 Naira, say, you begin to wonder if the intent is to test acquired skills in percentages (a life long skill all citizens should have) or decimals, long multiplication/division, etc (useful skills, sure, but not essential if you plan to work as a music conductor).

Laziness in my opinion primarily informs the need to copy questions from a by-gone era without so much as editing the same for relevance or appropriateness in the present age.