Government is also not helping matters, rather than make admission into institutions uniform for all citizens, they vary it on regional basis. In Nigeria today, outstanding performance in the qualifying examination into academic institution does not guarantee admission, the state of origin of the candidates is a stronger determinant. It is possible to have worked so hard to achieve excellence in entrance examination into federal academic institutions but still not get admitted, while someone could perform extremely poor in the same exam and get admitted even on priority depending on the part of the country they have originated from. This gross injustice is perpetrated under the guise of encouraging educationally disadvantage region.

The Cut-off marks for entrance into Federal Unity Schools for all 36 states and the FCT clearly shows that a candidatet from Abia who scores 130 points in the Federal Commonwealth Entrance exam may have hardtime gaining admission into the school of his choice, while another candidate from Zamfara who scores less than 5 points will gain same admission seamlessly. The most disturbing of all is setting higher standard for female candidates when the whole world is promoting female education.

Many academically talented individuals in Nigeria were denied tertiary education because the entrance standard bar was raised against them simply because of the part of the country they originated from. There are many professors in Nigeria today that would never have been one if the standard were set equally for all. In our university days we refer to them as “professors by quota system”

This inequality is practice in the Federal civil service and government owned establishments under the guise of Federal character. The implication is that certain individuals who merit certain appointment will never get it simply because of their state of origin, while others that are less qualified for the position are appointed. The consequences are inefficiency and poor performance.

If talent and merit have no place in our system, how do we encourage Nigerian kids, especially those that are from the southern part of the country, that there is a reward for hardwork?

While it might be a good idea to encourage the educationally disadvantage regions, suppressing talented individuals and discouraging hardwork on that basis is nothing but pure injustice. If the need be, Nigeria should increase capacity to accommodate everybody and set the standard for accessing the rights, privileges and national resources the same for all the citizens. It is time to scrap different cut-off marks for different states, all forms of quota system and federal character in the admission process into Nigerian academic institutions and recruitment/employment into all federal civil service, agencies and parastatals and start to promote merit and hardwork.
CUT-OFF MARKS FOR ENTRANCE TO FEDERAL UNITY SCHOOLS FOR ALL 36 STATES AND THE FCT
Abia – Male (130) Female (130)
Adamawa – Male (62) Female (62)
Akwa-Ibom – Male (123) Female (123)
Anambra – Male (139) Female (139)
Bauchi – Male (35) Female (35)
Bayelsa – Male (72) Female (72)
Benue – Male (111) Female (111)
Borno – Male (45) Female (45)
Cross-Rivers – Male (97) Female (97)
Delta – Male (131) Female (131)
Ebonyi – Male (112) Female (112)
Edo – Male (127) Female (127)
Ekiti – Male (119) Female (119)
Enugu – Male (134) Female (134)
Gombe – Male (58) Female (58)
Imo – Male (138) Female (138)
Jigawa – Male (44) Female (44)
Kaduna – Male (91) Female (91)
Kano – Male (67) Female (67)
Kastina – Male (60) Female (60)
Kebbi – Male (9) Female (20)
Kogi – Male (119) Female (119)
Kwara – Male (123) Female (123)
Lagos – Male (133) Female(133)
Nassarawa – Male (58) Female (58)
Niger – Male (93) Female (93)
Ogun – Male (131) Female (131)
Ondo – Male (126) Female (126)
Osun – Male (127) Female (127)
Oyo – Male (127) Female (127)
Plateau – Male (97) Female (97)
Rivers – Male (118) Female (118)
Sokoto – Male (9) Female (13)
Taraba – Male (3) Female (11)
Yobe – Male (2) Female (27)
Zamfara – Male (4) Female (2)
FCT Abuja – Male (90) Female (90)

And the North has the highest number of public primary schools in Nigeria yet has the lowest entry requirement.

This is to tell you that Nigerian policies are giving the north undue advantage over the south.