The House of Representatives has asked its committee on education to investigate the mass failure of candidates in the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) assessments recently.

The committee was also asked to provide the House with the yearly record of failure in the two examinations. The decisions followed a motion sponsored by Umaru Kurfi (PDP-Katsina), which was unanimously adopted.

Too much failure

Mr. Kurfi noted the significance of education in the country, but regretted the failure rates in both exams each year, as revealed by some officials of the examination bodies.

The 2009 WAEC results indicate that only 356,981 out of 1,373,009 candidates, representing 25.99 percent, obtained five credits including English Language and Mathematics. This translates into a 75 percent failure rate.

Mr. Kurfi said he was disturbed that "this ugly trend in the nation's most important sector is capable of preventing the realisation of Vision 20-2020, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Seven-Point Agenda, if adequate, realistic and sincere measures are not taken."

Mohammed Monguno (ANPP-Borno) said the mass failure is a replica of the decay in the education sector and that the legislators, as representatives of the people, must find out the cause of the problem. He warned that the education of Nigerian children must not be toyed with.

Beni Lar (PDP, Plateau), who said that teachers in her state have been on strike in the last five months, sought an amendment that the committee should report the failure in the examinations to the House every year.

Mohammed Ndume (ANPP, Borno) said a majority of those who failed the examinations are from public schools while most of the candidates that passed are from private ones. "This means that the gap between the rich and the poor will keep widening," he said.

State of emergency

Friday Itulah (PDP, Edo) called on the executive arm of government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector. He said those known to have performed well in government like Dora Akunyili, the information minister, should be redeployed to the ministry of education to rescue the sector.

Samson Osagie (PDP, Edo) complained that though education is on the concurrent list, the difficulty the states are facing in accessing the Universal Basic Education Fund (UBEC) also contributes to the falling standard of education.

Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) blamed the mass failure and the falling standard of education on training of teachers and called for the resuscitation of the teachers' training programme in the country.

Others who supported the motion included Abike Dabiri-Erewa (AC, Lagos) and Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers). It was unanimously carried when the speaker, Dimeji Bankole, put it to vote.

Remembering Zik

The lawmakers also voted unanimously for a motion urging the federal government to take over and complete the construction of the Zik Centre, Zungeru in Niger State. They also asked the government to rename the centre the Zik Centre for Governance and Legislative Studies when completed. The motion was brought by Bala Adamu Kuta (PDP, Niger) and 17 others.

Mr. Kuta said that, in 1980, the federal government and some individuals initiated an institution at Zungeru, the birth place of Nnamdi Azikiwe ,to be known as the Zik Memorial Centre.

According to him, Mr. Azikiwe, though an Igbo, would always be remembered and respected by all Nigerians and Africans for being "a patriotic politician, an intellectual icon, a statesmen and a great nationalist."

He said the objective of the centre was not only to immortalise the name of Nnamdi Azikiwe but also to appreciate, study and emulate the politician.

Mr. Kuta expressed regret that construction of the centre has been abandoned half way and the structure has now turned out to be an abode for reptiles and hoodlums.

Adding to this, Gozie Agbakoba (PDP, Anambra) also appealed to the federal government to complete the Zik Masouleum, Onitsha.

He said N3.1 million was earmarked for the centre in the 2009 federal budget, but it has not been completed.

[url=http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5497950-146/Reps_investigate_mass_failure_in_O%27levels.csp] Here [/url]

Those should start the probe by first checking their own o'level certificates.Bunch of i.d.i.o.Ts