UI’s 58 First-Class Law Graduates Challenge the Culture of Grade-Gatekeeping -By Ezinwanne Onwuka

“It can never be in my faculty!”

This was my immediate reaction to the news that 58 students graduated with first-class degrees from the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan (UI), on Tuesday. To say the least, I was astounded.

At that moment, I realised that my reality is different from the reality of my counterparts in UI. Apparently, in UI, if you earn a first class, the lecturers are willing and very excited to award it. From all indications, judging from the recent stellar performance, UI lecturers are not afraid to reward excellence with deserving grades. I am extremely happy for UI students!

In my school, the opposite is the case. My faculty is still trapped in the era of “producing many first-class graduates lowers the standard of the faculty.” As a result, students’ results are allegedly subjected to some gatekeeping modalities.

Interestingly, the release of the UI graduate list coincided with one of my lecturers sharing with my class how the results of his former bright student—who is now also our lecturer—were moderated. That moderation cost her a first-class degree; nevertheless, she graduated top of her class. According to him, she would have been the first to break the “no-first-class” jinx in the faculty. Instead, the system deprived her of that beautiful achievement. Although the faculty has produced a few first-class graduates in recent years, the practice of result gatekeeping is allegedly still in place.

This is not only my reality but also the reality of many students in other institutions. Needless to say, some faculties in our tertiary institutions still wear the “nobody makes a first class here” badge. Some lecturers even pride themselves on being the weapon fashioned against the academic success of their students. You know them. The “A is for God, B is for me, and C is for exceptional students” lecturers!

You can only imagine the emotional torture that hardworking students in such faculties and departments endure. You can only imagine the kind of melancholy that accompanies the release of results each semester. You can only imagine how demoralising it would be for diligent students to keep putting in their best effort after repeated heartbreaks. Even the most determined mind will despair and bank on fate to graduate with “a good result.”

Perhaps these faculties, departments, and lecturers do not really understand the gravity of their actions on students. Perhaps they do, but they just do not care! After all, as some of the lecturers would say, “since I didn’t graduate with a first class, no one who passes through me will!”

The implication of this is that teaching, for some, has become a vendetta mission. Gone are the days when people took up teaching or lecturing because they wanted to impact the lives of the younger generation. Today, most do so because they want to avenge the C’s, D’s, E’s, and possibly F’s they received during their student days. And they do this with reckless abandon because they are answerable to no man.

Surprisingly, this issue does not receive the kind of attention it deserves. We are all focused on sex-for-marks scandals, examination malpractice, cultism on campuses, poor funding of education, and deteriorating infrastructure, without realising that this culture of deliberate grade suppression is also a serious—if not greater—menace. Or perhaps we do realise, but have grown accustomed to it. Hence, it has become “normal.”

Back to UI’s exceptional result.

After our last semester’s results were released, I came across a status shared by my classmate. It read: “As an [institution withheld] student, do not be discouraged by the results. Remember, if it were to be in another school, you would easily get your A’s with all your hard work.”

When I came across the news about UI, I remembered that status. And I wondered what the outcome would have been if our law students and UI students had switched places. I also wondered whether my result would be better than it currently is if I were at another university, specifically UI (lol). Lastly, and most importantly, I wondered how it would feel if 58 students graduated with first-class honours from my faculty. While I am uncertain about the answers to the first two thoughts, I am certain about the last: graduating 58 first-class students would not lower the standard of my faculty in the estimation of the public!

Following the release of UI’s 2024/2025 graduation list, the former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Idowu Olayinka defended the development. A major takeaway for me from his social media post is: “You do not measure success by the quantum of failures.”

And I completely agree with the Professor. An institution, faculty, or department’s excellence should not depend on the number of failures it records but on the successes. There is nothing noble about denying students the grades they have rightfully earned. There is nothing laudable about manipulating grades to sustain an image. As a matter of fact, it is unjust, sadistic and, in fact, witchery, to deprive students of the grades they deserve. Justice is supposed to be the watchword of a law faculty, not the preservation of a false reputation built on the systematic frustration of deserving students.

I hope our lecturers will do better. I hope the performance of UI students will motivate these grade-gatekeepers in Nigerian universities to do better.

Ezinwanne Onwuka writes via ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com.