The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has called on the Nigeria Police to parade the professional examination cheats recently arrested by the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board, JAMB.

JAMB had announced the arrest of over 100 professional examination cheats during this year’s (2019) examinations. The suspects include: two biological children of the owner of an accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) center in Lagos.

MURIC has now reacted to the development in a press statement signed by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola. The statement reads, “The arrest of these professional examination writers is an eye-opener. It confirms what we have been saying for several years. The phenomenon of the lazy Nigerian youth is no longer a myth. Many people wanted to crucify President Muhammadu Buhari when he used that phrase some months ago. But we can all see now.

“Whereas Nigeria is blessed with many hardworking youngsters, there exists many black sheep who tarnish the image of the industrious ones. We call on the security agencies to publicly parade those caught in order to serve as deterrent to others. They must not be treated with kid gloves.

“Their names and faces must be exposed to friends and family members. They must be paraded as the bad eggs in society. We all know that societal norms and values have long broken down but we never knew that things had degenerated to this level. It is such a big shame.

“Where is the well-known African sense of dignity? Where is the pride of the black man who, decades back, could beat his chest and proudly rub shoulders with the intellectual giants of the West? The owner of the Lagos CBT center who allowed his two biological sons to impersonate other candidates is a disgrace to all Nigerian parents. His despicable conduct confirms the breakdown in family norms and values in the Nigerian society.

“This is a father training his own sons to fill up Nigerian universities with unqualified students. Some of those ‘assisted’ by them will graduate as ‘medical doctors’ who will become harbingers of death to hundreds of innocent patients simply because they were never really qualified to read medicine in the first place.

“It is more painful when we realise that these people have been doing it for years and getting away with it. In essence, we are saying that our universities are filled with unqualified undergraduates while thousands of employees brandish university degrees which they cannot defend.

“We are not surprised, however. Both the federal and state governments failed to meet global best standards in terms of funding of the education sector. Only one or two states made the education sector a priority. The effect has been a colossal loss in qualitative education.

“Instances of this dwindling performance can be found in the results published by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in past years. Only 28.58 percent of the candidates obtained credit passes in five subjects including English Language and General Mathematics in the WASSCE examination of year 2015. 38.58 percent passed the subjects in 2016 while the percentage fell to 26.01 percent in 2017.

“Things got so bad that an unnamed Nigerian who called himself a ‘graduate’ posted a highly embarrassing message on Facebook in 2018 in which he said, ‘It’s with deeps sence nd humility to told public, friends and family that… I had been collected my result yesterday 30/04/2018 around 2.00 pm with the overall of 3.44 CGPA. I’m now a graduate’. How he made this grade point remains a mystery but at least he has succeeded in exposing the rot in the system.

“Only three Nigerian universities were included in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings out of 1,250 tertiary institutions around the globe. Only one (the University of Ibadan) was in the 2018 list and it was ranked number 801 out of 1,000 universities.

The same university was the only one included among the 800 best universities in the world in 2016 and its position was 601. No single Nigerian university made the 2015 list released by the Centre for World University Rankings. The United States alone had eight among the top ten.

“This generally poor performance resulted in parents’ loss of confidence in the Nigerian education system and those who can afford it sought admission for their children outside the shores of this country. It also informed their desire for cutting corners particularly by parents who are thin in integrity but fat in indecency.”
MURIC, however, commended JAMB’s chief executive, Professor Ishaq Oloyede for the giant strides recorded by the examination body and for sanitizing the system.

“It must also be admitted that Oloyede’s achievements are a reflection of the deeply embedded integrity in the numero uno citizen, President Muhammadu Buhari. It would have been another cup of tea if the president himself is of questionable character. Those who are still cynical about the change mantra have another nut to crack.

“In our closing remarks, we call for the public parade of the professional examination writers. The law must be allowed to take its full course no matter whose ox is gored. The owner of the notorious CBT center in Lagos whose two sons are involved must face the full wrath of the law while himself and his CBT center must be banned for life. He is a disgrace to parenthood,” the statement added.