Prominent human rights advocate, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has mocked the proposal by the Federal Government to establish a National Examination Malpractice Court/Tribunal for prompt prosecution of examination malpractices.
In a terse post on X (formerly Twitter), Odinkalu ignited a discussion with many describing the proposal as a farce and joke taken too far.
Recall that the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, affirmed this recommendation of the 17-man committee headed by Professor Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as chairman, on Improvement of the Quality of Examination in Nigeria.
The committee which the Minister inaugurated in January this year submitted its interim report to him after about five months of extensive work, coming up with far-reaching recommendations aimed at improving the quality of examination and curbing examination malpractices in Nigeria.
Oloyede, in one of the recommendations, asked the Federal Ministry of Education to interface with the National Assembly to enact an Act to establish a National Examination Malpractice Court/Tribunal for prompt prosecution of examination malpractices to serve as a deterrent to others.
Alausa, in his response, assured the committee members that all the 12-point recommendations would be implemented, saying the government would deploy all its machinery to fight the menace of examination malpractice in Nigeria.
READ MORE: Electoral Reform: What We Need to Reform Is Not Elections But Judges, SANs – Chidi Odinkalu
However, some Nigerians on X have questioned why a similar tribunal has not been proposed for election rigging.
An X user, @OkiRalf1, said, “The same court that certified Bobo Chicago’s forged certificate? Nigerian political elites all cheated and forged their ways to their PhDs and doctorates, probably.”
Another X user, @kennethmicheal1, wrote, “INEC that rigs elections, why don’t they create a court that will prosecute and audit them? They just create all these laws to keep you, the poor and middle-class folks, quiet and compliant while they have their fill.”
These reactions are an indication that many Nigerians do not trust our institutions to appropriately execute some policies, no matter how well-intended.
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