Senior advocate, Solanke, calls for public conversation on Nigeria’s falling education quality

THE first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke, says there is a need for all ‘gallant’ stakeholders to protest and help arrest what is fast becoming an institutionalized lowering of education standard in Nigeria.

She particularly expressed disgust at the prevalent trend whereby educational institutions and even government’s examination agencies now accept marks lower than 50 per cent as pass mark.

In her remarks as chairperson at the 20th edition of the Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture held on Thursday at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, Mrs Solanke said the authorities should be partially blamed for poor academic performance of graduates.

She said: “One of my current crusades is to protest the damaging policy of educational institutions, schools, colleges, universities {and} the Law School which accept less than 50 per cent as pass mark.

“I was appalled to hear that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) approves of 120 out of 400 as pass mark. One hundred and twenty out of 400 is 30 per cent! Thus, many students enter educational institutions with such low standard of performance and come out as unemployable graduates.”

The Senior Advocate said students should be held to a higher standard of performance in order to improve the quality of graduates.

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“It is advocated that a pass mark is 50 per cent and above. Mediocrity should not be encouraged; rather, students should be encouraged to aspire to reach academic utopia.

“I plead with educational institutions to stop the national educational scandal. I respectfully invite the gallant people here present to participate in this protest and be part of the public conversation to stop this erroneous policy.”

She applauded the organizers for promoting, through the annual lecture, crucial interrogation of critical topics for the edification of the populace.

This year’s edition of the Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture was entitled ‘Justice as an Instrument of Enduring Peace in Nation Building’, delivered by Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Winners of this year’s edition of the Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition received their awards at the event.

Sixteen-year-old Master Esigbone Omagbemi Ferdinand of Roshallom International Secondary School, Egbeda, Lagos who came first with a total average score of 68 per cent, received a cheque for N100,000, a personal laptop computer, a trophy and a plaque, while his school got three sets of computer and a printer.

For emerging second in the competition, Oluwaseun Esther Aremu of Shepherd International College, Ado-Ekiti (with an average score of 61 per cent) received a cheque for N75,000 and a plaque, while her school got two sets of computers and a printer.

The third place winner, Master Adeola Ademuwa Ifeola from Christfield College, Itamaga, Ikorodu (with a total average score of 60 per cent) got a cheque of N50,000, a plaque and his school got a computer set.

The other winners received a consolation price of N20,000 each.

The chief examiner for the competition, Professor Akachi Ezeigbo, in a brief address enjoined students to develop the habit of reading. She also decried the observable evidence of lifting of materials from the internet without due acknowledgment of the copyright owners.

She appealed to organizers of the annual competition to put past essays in book form so that copies could be distributed to schools to encourage scholarship.

The Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition was initiated in 2004 as part of activities to celebrate the birthday of the presiding bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr. Mike Okonkwo, and to contribute to the development of the educational sector.