₦airaland Forum

Rayhut:
It is left for Aworis, Eguns and Ijaws which are the real owners of Lagos to work hard and produce the next governor instead of them to continue to allow immigrants from from Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti to continue to produce governor over them since 1999 in there Land.

Wetin bring Ijaw come Lagos?

Ijaw ko Ijoba ni.

I guess you do not know that Epe and environs, and Ikorodu are all part of Ijebu land populated by Ijebus.

alaoeri:
The Op ain't sincere, there is heavy traffic right now at merryland towards Obanikoro & also Oshodi Apapa expressway guess the VP's visit is also responsible for these.

Maryland!

God help Ebonyi with a serious government.

Very unlucky state.

sonOfLucifer:
The nerve to post the phone number!!

And contradict Reuters

Nigerians, support good thing. Support SR. Their journalism and others no be equal.

Only Sahara Reporters and Premium Times practice investigative journalism in Nigeria.

Others just wait for events to happen like bomb blast and go cover, or only scheduled events like independence anniversary.

Blast from the past.

This is the same country where a president without any investigation concluded that it wasn't MEND that executed the 1st Oct 2010 bombings, that he knows his people.
This was after same MEND had forewarned about the same bombing and had taken responsibility for it after the event. However the president said it couldn't be MEND, and covertly tried desperately to link it to some Northern politicians, even trying to rope in Raymond Dokpesi of AIT who was providing media services for the IBB campaign then within the PDP.

Fortunately, the South Africans helped to apprehend Henry Okah of MEND and prosecuted him for the same 1st Oct 2010 bombing that Jonathan tried to absolve his tribal brother from.

Fast forward to 2015, the same Jonathan at the height of presidential campaign regaled us with tales of how the secret service was aware of MEND's attempt to assassinate him on 1st Oct 2010, so he was quickly driven away from the venue after the celebration.

Please who can reconcile the 2 divergent facts I have made above?

This is the same enemy of state president some people say they miss.

Blast from the past.

This is the same country where a president without any investigation concluded that it wasn't MEND that executed the 1st Oct 2010 bombings, that he knows his people.
This was after same MEND had forewarned about the same bombing and had taken responsibility for it after the event. However the president said it couldn't be MEND, and covertly tried desperately to link it to some Northern politicians, even trying to rope in Raymond Dokpesi of AIT who was providing media services for the IBB campaign then within the PDP.

Fortunately, the South Africans helped to apprehend Henry Okah of MEND and prosecuted him for the same 1st Oct 2010 bombing that Jonathan tried to absolve his tribal brother from.

Fast forward to 2015, the same Jonathan at the height of presidential campaign regaled us with tales of how the secret service was aware of MEND's attempt to assassinate him on 1st Oct 2010, so he was quickly driven away from the venue after the celebration.

Please who can reconcile the 2 divergent facts I have made above?

This is the same enemy of state president some people say they miss.

If Charles Okah is dead, then GEJ has eventually silenced him.

The dude wrote all sorts of entreaties to influential Nigerians concerning his deplorable prison conditions as opposed to the conditions afforded even boko haram suspects by the same federal government of GEJ.

His crime was being the brother of Henry Okah the mend leader arrested and prosecuted by the South Africans for the bombing, and also being privy to Jonathan's stealth plan to implicate Northern politicians in the 1st October 2010 bombing that MEND never denied but Jonathan denied on their behalf.

Now he has been finally silenced even as an accused, let's see if Henry Okah will make it out of South Africa's prison.

If Charles Okah is dead, then GEJ has eventually silenced him.

The dude wrote all sorts of entreaties to influential Nigerians concerning his deplorable prison conditions as opposed to the conditions afforded even boko haram suspects by the same federal government of GEJ.

His crime was being the brother of Henry Okah the mend leader arrested and prosecuted by the South Africans for the bombing, and also being privy to Jonathan's stealth plan to implicate Northern politicians in the 1st October 2010 bombing that MEND never denied but Jonathan denied on their behalf.

Now he has been finally silenced even as an accused, let's see if Henry Okah will make it out of South Africa's prison.

babaijesha1:
just the way my party welcomed that rogue Saraki into its fold and gave him senatorial ticket on a platter of gold or is it Timi Sylva we should talk about ? That cocaine snorting bloody cultist or Chris Ngige that Okija shrine swearing while náked dwarf ? I even remember Abubakar Audu has an 11 billion naira fraud case hanging on his neck but my party told him to return the money only if he gets elected into Kogi state govt house again. My party is a disgrace to Nigeria and mankind

Then shame on you and your party.

What are you doing to redeem yourselves?

It seems PDP felt they ought to have been consulted on who merits appointment.

The same PDP who re-appointed Obanikoro and asked him to take a bow?

change49ja:

He meant the snake Anenih who was roundly decapitated in Edo, but was put on live support by the powers in Abuja to continue tormenting Edo.

chuna1985:
Let d most intelligent n hard working tribe snatch it all.

Then there's no need for the subsidy or even the unity schools since they would no longer be fostering any integration when the components to be integrated are not present.

All you will be left with are the regular schools that have always existed side by side with the unity schools.
Regular schools which no one ever stopped you from snatching all now if you had the money to pay or the numbers to populate it all.

All along I knew it was all about tribal superiority for you. No one is holding you back from dominating in the greater school system.

As for Unity School subsidized with federal funds, it is not by force, but if interested, then you will have only your quota. Other states would likewise limit themselves to their quotas to.

chuna1985:
I read only d first paragraph, All d other trash na ur property.

I AM AGAINST ANY FORM OF QUOTA.

Obviously your opinion is of no importance to the policy, and the truth about your greed obviously hurts you so bad.

Now you already know that unity schools are not the only secondary schools in Nigeria. They are a deliberate government experiment at fostering national integration, while subsidizing education to be benefited by a limited number of Nigerians but shared amongst the states of the federation. It is not a school for the gifted. It is for national integration.

Again unity school is not by force.
If you want merit, proceed to where merit is a prerequisite.

You cannot apply to an engineering school and then begin to insists they must offer medicine. Did you not know the way to a medical school when applying?

They do not in anyway hinder any brilliant student from pursuing academics in other regular schools where you pay your money's worth, or the multitudes of state owned public schools nationwide.

Learn to always limit yourself to what has been allocated to you within a specific system, and not looking to deprive others of the little they have, especially when the rules have been defined for the system from the onset.

The irritating part is there are other options you are free to pursue, but you insist only you must snatch all that the subsidized system has to offer.

modath:
Why is he being witch hunted?

On behalf of the OPC, I'm issuing this threat;

LIVE OUR SON ALONE.

If only he was from the other side without shame.

Unfortunately for this one, nobody's got his back, although I wouldn't rule out Ohaneze, Olisa Metuh and our own Chukwudi44.

Good news.

Tunde Ayeni should be looked into also.

chuna1985:
The cut off Mark's is preventing qualified igbos from attending unity schools . It's best we split, let everyone keep developing on their own pace.

The prevented Igbos did not qualify to begin with because they did not qualify for their state quota. Everybody who writes that exam is merely competing with his/her fellow statesmen for a chance in their state quota, thus pushing the cut off higher.

You have absolutely no business with how Sokoto fills a quota that was already theirs even before the candidates were born. Similarly, Sokoto has no business with how Anambra fills its quota.

The cut off mark ensures everybody benefits equally from government subsidized education without taking what belongs to another.

If you like shout and roll on the floor, you will get no more than your assigned state quotas.

Why can't Igbos learn that they have their own quota while others have theirs, which ensures all benefit from subsidised education fairly?

I have tried to explain from the standpoint of compulsory national integration - the goal of the unity schools.

I have also tried to explain from the standpoint of federal subsidy being shared equally. But the Igbos are deliberately pretending to be daft.

Unity school is not for Igbos, it is for all Nigerians. Why are the Igbos crying over the quota of the North when they have already filled their own allocation?

There are countless other schools out there besides the relatively insignificant number of unity school. So any one who fails to get on his state quota can continue academic pursuit at his own cost as all others who will not get into unity schools?

Has anyone deprived the Igbos of their quota?
Even in the early stages of unity schools after the war when there was a dip in South East education, did lower cut off marks prevent the then Eastern state from fulfilling their assured quota?

Someone gave an illustration of a conceptual African Unity School, with all African countries having their quota.
Will Nigeria complain that it must be given Rwanda's quota because they have lower scores?
Is it Rwanda's business if we score higher, thereby setting our own cut off hire than theirs?
Are there no other schools in Africa, that will make Nigeria continue to bicker over a few African Unity Schools as though it was the end of the world?

Why are Igbos so greedy to the extent that they are playing victim over a quota that is not theirs. Are they the only ones with high scores?

xtrorse:
How do you want it to be captured? Is that post a campaign of calumny against any tribe with a view to short-changing anybody?

The post was simply against the wicked Quota System that's applied in place of merit at the whims and caprices of the practitioners whenever it suits them.

Obviously you are still blind and cannot read the title.

You cannot wake up a man pretending to be asleep.

omonnakoda:
It is the responsibility of state governments to provide secondary education not the Federal. Unity schools are set up for one purpose only and so the money that goes into those schools belongs to everyone. If people do not want unity schools they can say so and the money returned to respective states. The schools are not centres of excellence. The only issue I have with the schools is they do not make provision for the disabled and boys are overrepresented.

If for example we decide to have an African Unity School the same principle will operate and there will be quotas.
The reality is Eboes are greedy and we know that Teachers write these exams in some cases all in a bid to get an advantage that is not forthcoming.
By the way when did they start releasing common entrance in October?

What is the source of this story and is it new?

That is all the whining has been about.

Greed!

Ibori was very proud to be a criminal.

His prison time in the UK will now give him street credibility, as he returns home soon to be crowned the prince of Kirikiri.

Despite the now useless pardon, Diepreye go still return to his home sweet home.

A man cannot change his destiny.

BushidoBlue:
Wow!!! I doff my hat at your hypocrisy!!!!

So when selecting leaders of the same society you won't say this or remember this.

What is the hypocrisy about stating facts as they are.

Have I told any lie or put a yoke on my brother that I cannot carry?

chuna1985:
""Each state is filling its guaranteed quota in a federal education scheme designed for unity. It is not an admission based on academic merit but on compulsory NATIONAL representation""

But national representation goes to the dust bin when ministers n appointments are made.

TUFIAKWA.

All idiots have since learned that even the most tribalistic of presidents is constrained by law to appoint ministers from each state.

All idiots except you.

bayooooooo:
What you have written so far has not invalidated the argument of people against quota system: it not only rewards mediocrity but unfortunately also punishes hardwork. Provided students in Sokoto and Anambra wrote the same examination and under similar conditions, you can't fault the argument that students in Anambra are better than those in Sokoto. That's pretty much obvious. Plus, where is the chance that a candidate from Sokoto can even compete with ones from Anambra in the unity school? And should we build schools where mediocrities are being groomed?

I don't like quota system but I am not completely against it. What needs to be done is set an irreducible minimum below which no candidate should be admitted. In that case, we will know states that can not fill their quota. For instance, if the minimum is 40 for all states, Anambra candidates would still have to be highly competitive to get in because there are many good students in Anambra but that would also ensure Sokoto is not sending students who have no chance of competing. Plus, the school's standard will be maintained.

This system of anything goes is not good. Does it mean a candidate from Zamfara with a score of 2 can also be admitted in the name of uniting the country?

It would be wrong to say it punishes hardwork, because all along the Anambra student is competing not with the Sokoto boy, but with fellow Anambrarians for only Anambras quota.
The high scoring boy who fails to make his state quota has a lot of other options to chose from. It is not the end of the world where lots of schools abound even on the same street.

The real debate here is who gets to enjoy government subsidized education. It is this subsidy that the state quota is placed on (or how do you explain the situation where people who have better quality schools surrounding them still fighting over just 102 unity schools in Nigeria).

This subsidy is only given at the condition that it is shared equally nationally.

Concerning the school standard, it cannot drop because all that need happen is that the low scoring student will fall by the way.

The need to ensure heterogeneity does not compel unity schools to carry a baggage of un-trainable students. So they will only go as far as their mental capacity allows.

I fear that even the 40 score might be unattainable for most of the Northerners who might consider unity schools. Not saying there wouldn't be others who are quite gifted but too wealthy to consider education in a government school. Many Southerners also belong to this category.

So for the few who even apply, many might not even turn up for the admission.

Soon the unity goal of the schools are defeated, the government no longer see the need for subsidizing the schools, they are privatised and everyone is back to ground level of cash and carry. Even the gifted poor with a high score cannot afford his fees.

Then we all realise that the erstwhile unity school now private without the subsidy, is just like every other private school we had around us, which you could as well enrol in now without bickering about government subsidized unity schools whose entry rules are as straight forward as open/close.

Scholes007:
that is where you didnt get the logic is quota system the ideal solution for the education woes of nigeria especially the not?...lets look at it at the lens of unity. Why is the cut off mark difference between these regions so large beyond logic? What has the govt done over the year to close the gap?.... Is there no private? If No. Does it mean unity school is meant for olodo northerns?

No, unity school is not meant for olodo Northerners.

They have lots of schools in every local government in each state in the North, just as the South has. So they also populate other schools both private and public just as it is obtainable in the South.

All of us on this thread know why the Northern cut-offs are low, so there's no need for an exposition on that. If boko haram could gain ground there among the locals, then you know education never really had a fighting chance except among the privileged wealthy few.

The unity schools can only try to bridge the gap but a gap that wide is best closed up while at the primary level.

I believe there are no 2 separate academic evaluations for Southern students versus Northern students in the duration of scholarship in these unity schools.

Anyone who cannot keep up will naturally drop along the way. The injustice would have been if our almighty Igbos had to score 70 as pass mark to the next grade while a Northerner need only score 20 to move to the next grade. As it is, pass mark is uniform across the board irrespective of how academically disadvantaged a Northerner is to the Southerner.

Quota system is only a policy to ensure general representation to help accomplish the integration goals the government set up the unity schools for.
We would not be having this discussion if all states had cut offs above 60, yet the quota would have still been the same.

The continued low cut off from the North is only an evidence that the North has refused to get up from the tracks. An inability to keep up with the pace while in the unity schools cannot be blamed on anyone, neither is there a quota for failure or success.

The academically weak will fall by the way.

NoMoreTrolling:
it seems you are plugged in, so you are not grasping what the theme of this thread is, what the implications are and what the rectification should be how am I supposed to get through to you when you are so steadfast in your belief in mediocrity

nonetheless, i'm still gonna try

we are arguing, not based on the technicalities and implementation of the quota system, but based on the rationale behind it

let me state an example for you in practical terms. when i was in ss3, we had a junior student in ss2 then that couldn't do simple multiplication. like he couldn't do 4 * 4 and so on and I and my friends wondered how he kept rising through school with failed class reports. being much younger then, we probably just laughed it off as we had more pressing school issues to think about like light, water... however, now it does sink in a bit.

i ask you, would a student who scored 7 be learning the same material as the one who scored 60

would the material be dropped down to the level of the "7" student, or brought up to the level of the "60" student

if it's brought down to the level of the "7" student, then the "60" student would have wasted a great potential in that school and if it is brought up to the "60" student level, then how would the "7" student compete

do you now see how delirious the current system is

here you are giving me numbers and statistics of how the current bad implementation of the quota system is being carried out and you expect that to serve as some sort of justification you even mention about a state not being cheated! that's how far down the rabbit hole you've sunk.

you need to first unplug dude

https://www.powerfulnonsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/unplug-from-the-matrix.jpg

All you have said falls flat at the footsteps of national unity and integration - the compelling reason for establishing such schools after the civil war.

You will agree with me that these schools are hardly more than 1or 2 in each state, with Lagos having 3.

There are multitudes of schools nationwide for the kind of academic competition you obviously prefer. So why do we attach so much to schools that are like a drop in a mighty ocean.

For as long as these schools enjoy federal subsidies, they have no choice but to conform to the federal policy that masterminded their set up.

Sometime in the late 80's the federal government conceived a plan for a National School for the gifted, as an extension of the unity school system.
While I believe the school was eventually kick started much later, I would like to believe that even if admission has any form of federal character rule, it is secondary to merit - its primary requirement for admission.

The true unplug will be the government privatising the schools, stop the subsidies and let admission be at the discretion of the private proprietors. Everybody stops convulsing over subsidized qualitative education.

This then begs the question, didn't we have private schools all along?

As long as the schools are federal and set up with a national integration agenda, quota will continue to trump merit.

This is a very fundamental argument.

The failure or success of the unity schools in terms of academics, barely defines the greater secondary education in Nigeria that is constituted by all sorts of schools from state public, to private, to parochial.

So why the fuss over admission in unity schools when we are all aware of what the unity school is and hopes to achieve? Even ensuring that each state has a fair representation?

But some people insist, seeing that it is cheap yet relatively qualitative, that they must have what belongs to others within that system. Shamelessly making themselves out as victims instead of the greedy beings that they truly are.

Again, unity school is not by force. Lots of schools out there in the wild.

xtrorse:
Aside being far from objectivity and sincerity I used to think you're learned.

I repeat, unity school is not by force.

Keep your eyes on your state's quota and stop looking across the fence.

If you were not the tribal jingoist that you are, you will understand simply policy on quota and stop acting like you're a victim of injustice.

Stop pokenosing into quota that is not yours.

NoMoreTrolling:
look at this one trying to defend the indefensible, so far entrenched in the ways of mediocrity that your head in stuck up your own asss

saying unity schools are not for the academically gifted, then why, why oh why is there a need to place a high cutoff mark for any state

it's like saying that King's Collage Lagos is not a school meant for the academically gifted, men oma see ooo

this is why sometimes I get tired of Nigeria, but each day I try to find strength and encouragement from the sane minds around me, whatever tribe they come from [[like when i'm driving and i see a guy in front of me obeying traffic rules and staying in his lane, using his signal lights and so on, i just think to myself "that's my nigga" ]]

it's better to set up an entire "type" of school for children that can't make a country wide cutoff, that way, the syllabus can be tailored to meet their needs in nurturing them intellectually. that would be a round peg in a round hole, not one we have now where a student that scored as low as 15 is in a class with one that scored as high as 50 just so they can learn about unity

i giv up men

Are you the government that instituted the unity school system as to claim its for the gifted as opposed to the national integration the policy shows it to be?

I repeat, the unity school is not a school for the academically gifted.

You obviously do not know that a high cut off is a function of high scores by candidates from their respective states.

I'll try to simplify the process of determining cut off marks to you. I'm not saying it is word perfect, but it suffices.

If Anambra has a slot for 25 and the least score of the 1st 25 is 60, then cut-off becomes 60 for Anambra to fill its own quota.
If Sokoto has a slot for 25 and the least score of the 1st 25 is 15, then the cut-off becomes 15 for Sokoto to fill its own quota.

Pleease, please and please, how has Sokoto cheated Anambra when Anambra fixed its own high scores by internal competition between fellow Anambrarians for their state slot, and by virtue of its academic superiority to Sokoto?

Do you prefer to have Anambra students score so low?

How would that change the fact that your are still entitled to your state quota alone.

IsraeliAIRFORCE:
You are the idiot here because both Students can't be and are not naturally meant to be in the same class without those failures limiting the capacity of the ones with higher IQ thereby destroying the potentials of gifted children

Then let the gifted child go to a school for the gifted.

Unity school is for national integration.

There are thousands of other schools out there. Unity school is not by force.

Kinganaba:
Igbos were not the only ones with high cut off mark. People should stop complicating issues. Am also Igbo.

You are obviously not in need of spectacles. I wish others had the sight to see what was placed before them.

NoMoreTrolling:
You are truly disgusting

So we say goodbye to merit just like that

What kind of country is this men YYyyyyyy me

I'd rather give children with low scores some sort of pre-schooling aid to help bring them up to par with others so as to make the most of their education, than tell them that its okay to not even try hard

...unless of course maybe certain schools in areas affected by closure due to insecurity...

u truly disgust me, spits

You disgust everybody that has a sound education.

How many times will you be told that the unity schools are not a school for the academically gifted? They are for compulsory national integration.

Or is it by force to go to a unity school?
Is it the subsidized education that is so attractive to cause you to long for another's slot?

Or is it by force to turn an engineering school to a medical school?

Why are you complaining about the quota that is not yours. Fill yours and be content with your allocation, stop craving for what you're not entitled to.

mapet:
Bros,

Let me respond to your points.

1. If you flip this knot around as we try to understand it better, we should be realistic with our position on what is feasible. Even with the low cut-marks, some nothern states will not take up their quota. They will simply be under-enrolled.
2. The magnitude between the cutt-off marks goes beyond a moral questions. Under the current arrangements we run as a government, every states deserves their quota of the national cake; be it oil, ministeria appointment or Unity Schools.
3. A way to "bridge the gap" is for government to sell off all these schools and allow private owners to run it. There and then you will have cutt-off marks that is regardless of where you come from..........

Indeed!

The bulk of the Northern quota will still not be met.

The unity schools can only attempt to bridge the gap.
The responsibility for that lies with the respective state governments at the primary education level.

As someone opined, if the East or West feel cheated about the poor scores of the North, it is in their power to lower the bar if that will make them happy.

Last last, it is still their quota that will be filled, so nobody will deny them what is theirs.

TIMEISWISDOM:
What happens to merit?
For how long will we maintaining a system that rewards mediocrity?
I completely understand the system as explained by you but still not comfortable with it because it is an obsolete that shouldn't still be practised in this 21st century

Thank goodness you understand. Finally!

Sadly as the schools are set up, merit will never trump national representation.
That is why they are termed unity schools.

If merit is exaulted, some states will never make it to the schools even in their domain, ultimately defeating the purpose of the system.

You do know the schools were set up to foster national unity as an aftermath of the civil war? Except for older government schools like KC or QC that were also included to the pool of schools.

As long as the schools enjoy federal subsidies, they must remain federal in admission.

They are not the only secondary schools in Nigeria, they don't even constitute 1% of secondary schools in Nigeria, but all the time this list of cut off is realised, another opportunity beckons for sentimentalism.

I did not make it in my own time despite a high score, while a thousand Northerners might have made it with lower scores, but guess what?
The Northerners did not cheat me, I failed to measure up among my own peers to secure a place in Lagos state quota for very top schools in a Lagos.

Naturally, I moved on to another school that is non-unity from an ocean of choices.