Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Lagos in a landmark judgment has ordered the Nigerian Government to apply a uniform cut-off mark to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government Col­leges, otherwise known as Uni­ty Schools, irrespective of their states of origin.

Justice Tsoho, in his ruling, declared unconstitutional the state-based admission inequality in Federal Government colleges.

A human rights lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, had instituted the suit against the Federal Gov­ernment and the Minister of Education, challenging the pre­scribed different cut-off marks for different states, based on can­didates’ gender and their states of origin.

Agbakoba argued that the de­cision of the defendants violates the candidates’ fundamental rights to freedom from discrim­ination guaranteed by Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

He had argued that Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution prohib­its administrative or executive actions by the government that discriminates between Nigeri­ans on grounds of ethnicity, gen­der, religion and place of origin.

Agbakoba had asked the court to declare that the admin­istrative act of the respondents, particularly the Minister of Ed­ucation, which prescribes and applies different requirements including cut-off marks for candidates seeking admission into Federal Government col­leges, based on gender, ethnicity, states of origin, among others, is discriminatory against appli­cant’s grandchildren and the group or class they represent, on grounds of ethnicity, states of origin, gender, etc. and there­fore violates Section 42(1) of 1999 Constitution.

He also prayed for: “An order directing the respondents, par­ticularly Minister of Education to apply uniform admission re­quirements, especially cut-off marks to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Govern­ment colleges, notwithstanding their gender, states of origin, ethnicity, etc.

“An order of perpetual in­junction restraining the respon­dents, particularly the Minister of Education, whether by itself, its agents, servants, privies or otherwise howsoever from fur­ther acts of discrimination in ad­mission to Federal Government colleges.”

In a 19-paragraph affidavit, Agbakoba had averred that since the inception of the Unity Schools, the Federal Govern­ment had maintained great disparity in admission require­ments for candidates wishing to be admitted into Federal Govern­ment colleges.

In particular, he had argued that the Federal Government prescribed different cut-off marks for different states, based on candidates’ gender and their states of origin.

After hearing arguments from counsel for the parties, the court ordered that the Federal Govern­ment and the Minister of Edu­cation should apply a uniform cut-off mark to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government Colleges, irrespec­tive of their states of origin.

In July 2021, SaharaReporters reported how the Federal Minis­try of Education pegged cut-off marks for admission into the 104 unity schools nationwide at 134 on average for the five South-East states, while states in the North had cut-offs of 20 marks and even below. This cut-off is out of a total of 300 marks.

SaharaReporters had obtained the cut-off lists as released by the Ministry for the 2020/2021 aca­demic year, showing the huge disparity between the cut-off marks which candidates from South-East and South-West states should have and what the candi­dates from North should obtain.

According to the breakdown, Anambra had the highest cut-off of “139 marks for both males and females; Imo 138; Enugu 134, La­gos 133; Delta 131, Ogun 131, Abia 130 and Edo.”

Osun and Oyo were among the 10 tops with the highest cut-off marks with both of them having 127 marks.

SaharaReporters observed that the least 10 cut-off marks for Unity Schools were all northern states; Gombe 58; Nasarawa 58; Borno 45; Jigawa 44, Bauchi 35; Kebbi had 9 for males and 20 for females.

Also, Sokoto had 9 for males and 13 for females; Zamfara had 4 marks for males and 2 for fe­males.

Taraba and Yobe were the least states with Taraba having 3 for males and 11 for females while Yobe had 2 for males and 27 for females.

The cut-off marks were re­portedly released by the National Examination Council.

“Some pupils are admitted into Unity schools with as low as two marks in the common entrance examinations while some can only get into the same schools with at least 130 marks. Slowly mediocrity has crept in.

“While a candidate from Anambra State has to struggle for 139, a candidate from Zamfara is looking for just 4 marks. Yes, the quota system is indeed meant to give educationally disadvan­taged regions of the country an opportunity to access quality education, but that gap is ridic­ulous.

“Merit should also be a strong consideration,” an education ex­pert, who did not want his name in print, had explained.

aribisala0:
There is nothing to celebrate
The FG is not responsible for secondary education. If the judgment stands I expect the Unity Schools to be closed
Then those who want can celebrate

Sulele04:

Fg is not responsible for education ke .

Maybe that is why ASUU is on strike , It is probably Uk responsibility .

aribisala0:
Well you obviously are not literate and cannot read and comprehend a very simple sentence in English.

What has ASUU got to do with secondary schools?

Kingof2nations:



You're the obvious illiterate here
The said secondary is even a federal one. If you want to advance another argument come and explain

aribisala0:
If you do not understand ask questions rather than talking like a fool.
I said
It is not the responsibility of the FG to provide secondary education in Nigeria

That is our law. Instead of dealing with that you were talking nonsense about ASUU

The FG has involvement in secondary schools to a very limited extent in Nigeria
There are over 10000 public sector secondary schools and the FG has about 100 UNITY schools

These schools were established after the civil war to promote unity. ALL the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGES have the same motto=
Pro UNITATE = FOR UNITY

The schools were not established because secondary education is FG responsibility
They were established to enhance unity

UNILAG and some other universities have secondary schools BUT secondary education is NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY
The Military have some secondary schools in Nigeria. Does that make secondary education their responsibility?
Secondary education is state government responsibility.
If UNITY SCHOOLS are to be run purely on merit they will be scrapped and handed over to state governments

aribisala0:
Well you obviously are not literate and cannot read and comprehend a very simple sentence in English.

What has ASUU got to do with secondary schools?

Sulele04:


We saying the same thing no need for insults.


They are not responsible for education yeah right,

Federal government colleges, Navy Secondary school, Command day college, Air force colleges are left in dilapidated states it's fine, I mean it is not Fg responsibility it is Uk responsibility nah.

ASUU also is not federal government responsibility.

The allocation for Education is to sponsor politicians children abroad but education of ordinary Nigerians is not Fg responsibility it is Uk responsibility .

aribisala0:
If you do not understand ask questions rather than talking like a fool.
I said
It is not the responsibility of the FG to provide secondary education in Nigeria

That is our law. Instead of dealing with that you were talking nonsense about ASUU

The FG has involvement in secondary schools to a very limited extent in Nigeria
There are over 10000 public sector secondary schools and the FG has about 100 UNITY schools

These schools were established after the civil war to promote unity. ALL the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGES have the same motto=
Pro UNITATE = FOR UNITY

The schools were not established because secondary education is FG responsibility
They were established to enhance unity

UNILAG and some other universities have secondary schools BUT secondary education is NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY
The Military have some secondary schools in Nigeria. Does that make secondary education their responsibility?
Secondary education is state government responsibility.
If UNITY SCHOOLS are to be run purely on merit they will be scrapped and handed over to state governments