The Malaise in the College of Health Jega, by Bilyamin Abdulmumin

Whenever I am in my community, I usually go to Kebbi State College of Health Technology Jega for computer business services. But suddenly, this time around on Thursday, I encountered violent rioting students, blocking the road with what usually signals tension: burning tires. When I noticed the school gate burning with fire, it dawned on me that the situation was out of hand. Later in the evening, I learned about even more harrowing stories, as the house and vehicles of the school provost, Haruna Saidu-Sauwa, were destroyed beyond imagination, the provost was said to barely escape lynching. This is the part of the country where even a peaceful demonstration is culturally and morally avoided so bringing such riots of magnitude called for reckoning.

The students reached the breaking point when they felt utterly swindled by the school management. According to some of them who spoke with correspondent of Radio Nigeria Equity FM Birnin Kebbi, they were admitted to study various newly introduced courses for national diploma, boldly indicated by their admission letters. But, unknowing to them, they were going to be given certificates because their courses were not accredited for national diplomas. What made the matter bitter was not only spending two years waiting for a ship that never came but also the ultimatum to meet the deadline for registration fees or miss the national exam, so through the sweat of their brows, they cough up the 65k examination fee. One student’s story paints the extent of their predicament. According to this student, his father was due for an eye operation but because of this dateline, the operation had to be delayed.

Penultimate to the incident, the students have been giving all kinds of excuses, especially by the person they channel their anger the most: the school provost. When one-on-one with him, having exhausted all possible excuses, he allegedly steered up the honest net: “We have nothing to do for you; you can do your worst if you cannot accept certificates (instead of national diplomas). 

Why the student could not settle for state certificates? According to one graduate of the school, only the National diploma gets recognition countrywide, and the state certificate is the lowest pecking order, which is looked down upon even within Kebbi State. When the first set introduced it for employment this year, they were simply told such certificates don’t exist.  Thus, one student bore his frustration about this turn of events: the management just wanted, at all costs, to reduce us to roadside hawkers by giving us state certificates.

This turn of events was not all the reason behind the escalation of the matter, just the straw that broke the camel’s back. For a long time, the school students’ cries have been echoed offline and only a few courageous took their cries to social media. The situation of running the school was dire, the light availability, water supply, and environmental sanitation were all allegedly pathetic. These factors, together with the latest lack of accreditation combined to culminate into the time bomb.

The escalation of this matter is what is obtainable when loyalty wins over competence. Because another allegation was that the current provost of the school was chosen against Sadiq Noma, an upright, principled, and due process scholar, in fact, he was appointed for some days, and there was even Walima that took place for his appointment, but suddenly the appointment was terminated in favor of the current provost.

But reading about the predicament of other schools and colleges of health, especially through Dr. Muhsin Ibrahim’s posts and the trove of comments that followed the posts, I realized that the malaise in health colleges in Nigeria is widespread. The sale of admissions has been normalized; benefits for grades are rampant and now a new layer of irregularity has been introduced: ghost courses. 

Health-related courses have the tradition of graduating self-employed students, so unarguably, the reason behind desperation to get admission in such institutions at all costs. Unfortunately, this is the weakness that the officials exploited across the country. Therefore, it is imperative for his excellency, the Kebbi State governor (and of course over Nigerian governors) Dr. Nasir Idris, as an educationist, to arrest the situation to avoid losing the benefits that come with health-related schools: providing sought-after health staff in the state as well as serving as a source for self-employment.