Leadership (Abuja)
Abdulazeez Sani
11 October 2008
Head of the Department of Mathematics, Ahmadu Ballo University , Zaria , Prof. G. U. Garba, has raised alarm that the educational gap between the South and the North is widening.
Garba, who raised this alarm in a memorial lecture organised by Gamji Members Association, FUT, Minna chapter, in honour of late Dr. Hassan Tukura, said the ugly phenomenon had the potential of hampering national development.
He explained that out of a total of 122, 492 students admitted through UME into Nigerian universities in 2004, only 22, 696 or 18.5 per cent were from the 19 northern states.
According to him, 12 northern states have less than 1, 000 students each admitted that year, with Bauchi recording 536, Gombe 485, Jigawa 219, Katsina 522, Kebbi 501, Yobe 284 and Zamfara 383.
He attributed this ugly development to poor condition of schools, lack of adequate and well- trained and motivated teachers, non–availability of proper laboratory and classroom facilities at the primary and secondary levels.
Niger State governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, in his address at the occasion, expressed worry over the poor performance of students from the state who sat for senior school certificate examination in 2007. Aliyu, who was represented by his deputy, Alh. Ahmed Ibeto, revealed that in 2007, only 6, 000 out of 70, 000 students of Niger State who wrote SSCE, obtained five credits and above, including English and Mathematics.
He lamented that in the 2008 May/June WASC result just released by WAEC, only 17 per cent of students from the state could scale through while 83 per cent failed. According to him, "This surely is a cause for concern because if this perennial poor performance is not arrested, it could have an adverse impact on the nation's manpower development." The governor revealed his government's decision to establish three schools of preliminary studies in Tegina, Ibeto and New- Bussa, with the aim of reducing the abysmal failure rates.
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