By Okereke Udoakpuenyi and Kehinde Akinkumi, YeyeNews.com, September 9, 2021
The Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment Mr. C. Don Adinuba has accused the Commissioner of Education, Adamawa State, and the entire government of Adamawa State of illegally approaching primary and secondary school students of Anambra State origin to claim Adamawa State as their state of origin when they sit for admission into unity schools and JAMB respectively.
Mr. Adinuba made this known during Academic Excellence Award 2021 reception organized by the Anambra State government in Awka for Anambra State indigenes who have major achievements in the area of education in 2020 and 2021.
Those honored were: Master Chibuzor Chibuikem Monwuba, an indigene of Awka, who scored 358 out of a maximum 400 marks in the2021 JAMB examination; Miss Ego Agnes Maduafokwa, from Ihiala, who broke JAMB examination history by scoring 365 marks out of a possible 400 in 2020; David Nwobi, from Nawfia, who scored 363 marks in the 2020 JAMB examination.
Others honored were former World Bank Vice President Oby Ezekwesili who is resuming work at Yale University as senior fellow; Patrick Okigbo III, a management consultant in Abuja, who is returning to Harvard as a senior fellow after a successful tenure at the prestigious institution. Former Central of Nigeria Governor, Dr. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, an internationally recognized economics professor and bank reformer and the current All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship flagbearer, was also celebrated.
Buttressing his accusation against Adamawa State government, Mr. Adinuba said some candidates were promised money and other things, given gifts, and taken out to fancy restaurants with their parents and promised to be given scholarship to anywhere in the world if they could switch.
YeyeNews.com investigation led our reporter to some of the parents. One said she could not believe it even though she was excited and proud that her child was the attention of another state and its government. She said her husband treated the whole thing as if their child was being poached to move from Arsenal FC to Chelsea FC. She also said her brother-in-law who has printing business actually did a jersey for her child with “Anambra United F.C.” written on it.
When contacted by YeyeNews.com reporter a spokesperson for Adamawa State’s Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development denied the accusation and said that Igbo people would never stop trying to give northerners bad names.
“Even though we perform badly, we perform it with pride and dignity. Our pupils are not like Anambra pupils who cheat to take the top spots every year,” he posited.
He acknowledged that Adamawa State students did badly in the past but there has been improvement: one student who sat for JAMB in 2020 got 50 and tried again in 2021 and got 65; another student whose father is a repentant Boko Haram fighter sat for JAMB and scored 120. “That’s an improvement. Children of Boko Haram fighters never went to school. Igbo people don’t understand the challenges we face here. If Gombe could do half of what we do here in terms of giving resources to students, maybe they won’t be coming last every year,” he challenged.
YeyeNews.com could not reach the Commissioner of Education in Gombe State but his Personal Assistant told us that Gombe State did not want to join issues with “our brothers” in Adamawa State, but as for Anambra State, “These Anambra kids will get all the high scores and move abroad to further their education. They leave, we own and occupy Nigeria. We are in every post. We control the NNPC, the Nigerian Ports, Customs, Immigration, the military and national security, everything. Everything. Tell me who wins at last? Tell me who comes on top?”
