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Homework Help: Social Studies: World Issues: Wasting Away in Nigeria
by Ekene Umeike
Nineteen year old Nigerian male, at least six feet tall and weighing less than
60 kilos. That just about describes me. I graduated from secondary school in
2002 with no problems, I passed my final exams like I knew I would and was
looking forward to my next challenge - university, which is a necessity if I am
to survive in this environment.
Those who know me closely will attest to the fact that I am willing to work hard
for what I want, and so I geared my efforts towards getting a university
admission. I tried my luck at leaving Nigeria to avoid the frustration that
comes with Nigerian universities, but a lack of funds frustrated that effort. So
I had no choice but to look inwards. I sat for the famous university
matriculations examination (more famously known as JAMB), the one uneven avenue
through which about a million Nigerians compete each year for the estimated one
hundred thousand spaces available in the universities.
I was delighted when I was offered admission by the University of Nigeria to
study electronics. This admission was very special in that I did not do anything
I cannot admit to publicly like offer a bribe to get it and I was actually
offered a chance to study a course in which I had interest, unlike several
others who settle for anything just so that they can get on with their lives.
Most would see this as a wonderful thing, but I am starting to have my doubts.
My admission letter was dated November 2002, but I received it in April 2003 a
few days before I took the JAMB for a second time. The six month strike by
lecturers meant I could not resume immediately. Eventually, I started my first
semester of the 2002/2003 session in October 2003. Despite this delay, we were
sent home for an early one month Christmas holiday in the middle of the semester
to make way for the sandwich students. Mid-January I was back in school from a
holiday of almost constant study, lectures resumed and life went on. I prepared
in expectation of the upcoming exams. Things were reaching a climax; months of
hard work would finally be over. But it wasn’t to be my lecturers went on strike
again and disrupted the main exams.
I was coming to terms with the fact that the university was in a town several
decades behind Lagos where I reside, and the wretched living conditions at the
wonderfully built hostels with rooms designed for two occupants, which my seven
roommates and I were learning to call home not to mention the toilets which
might as well be the sewers, only to be confronted all of a sudden with the
greatest anti-climax I can remember in this life of mine. I have discovered that
it is very difficult to truly do anything properly without an aim. After months
of reading with my exams as my target I now struggle to open my books having
been sent home till further notice without exams.
Some of my "luckier" mates are going on with their Nigerian style education. A
friend of mine in another school who started middle of last year will be in his
third year by the end of this year. I honestly feel like I am wasting away here,
I really wish I could move on, it is difficult to start anything else knowing it
could be disrupted anytime they "graciously" call us back to school.
There are many like me who must be feeling a little lost now with no visible
light to follow. It is painful when I remember that I am waiting eagerly to go
back to a school in which I spent at least fifteen minutes of my time looking
for chemicals to use during my chemistry practical exam which held earlier, and
buy my test tubes, funnel, filter paper and even water after paying lab fees to
mention a few of the memorable experiences I have already "enjoyed".
Things look hopeless now, but I often try to comfort myself with the thought
that others before me have survived similar conditions, in the hope that I can
make it through also, even though I know that exams under these conditions are
no true test of my abilities. The horror of education in Nigerian universities
is a story that has to be told, if there is to be any hope at all of arresting
the rapid and persistent decay that we are being forced to accept as normal.
For now I have to look forward to opportunities which may present themselves to
me and of course my first semester exams in the 2002/2003 session.
Homework Help: Social Studies: World Issues
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