Onlytruth: Question# 1
Since when did Nnamdi Azikiwe University become the most preferred university in the East, even ranking above UNN (per the JAMB preferred schools as published)?

Question# 2
Can one conclude that student preferrence for a university is a proof of academic standards, since there are other presumably similar schools in the same catchment area?

Onlytruth: Question# 1
Since when did Nnamdi Azikiwe University become the most preferred university in the East, even ranking above UNN (per the JAMB preferred schools as published)?

Question# 2
Can one conclude that student preferrence for a university is a proof of academic standards, since there are other presumably similar schools in the same catchment area?

Ejiné: The fact that IMSU, a state school (which, being a state school, naturally has fewer spaces than the average federal school) has been so overstretched to the point of appearing above the likes of federal schools like UI in terms of demand? I think that state needs more universities, honestly.

It's also worthy of note that it's the only state school mentioned in those highlights.

~Bluetooth:

Most people prefer going to the interior villages in the east to write waec and jamb examinations because of malpractices.who wants to write exam in lagos and Abuja where there is strict supervision when you can get your 250 and above from one village in okija ? This figure does not translate to anything,it's just the usual student migration during exam period.if anybody has written jamb before,you'd understand better.

Tony Spike: While I cannot contest any of these figures. I believe these figures can only be meaningful if we can infer the following facts:

1. Do high figures of enrollment correspond to better quality of applicants?

2. Does the preference for a University relate to higher standard of teaching and facilities?

3. How many of these "preferred" Universities produce high quality graduates who can compete with their international colleagues?

4. Finally, don't we have occurences of applicants travelling to "special" states for UTME exams? As far as 12 years ago, I have heard that Imo state has lots of "special" centres. Thus, these large figures may give us an hint to their existence?

Based on my personal experience in Enugu as a Youth Corper some years back, I have the following observation:

1. Many of the full-fledged rural secondary schools i.e. J.S.S 1 to S.S.3 have an average of four teachers with at least 120 students per schools.

2. Many of these schools still manage to have as high as 100 students for WASC/NECO exams (don't ask me how they do it).

3. There's an apparently low-interest in secondary education there based on my 1-year interaction with the natives.

4. The arrival of corpers at these rural schools is seen as an achievement by the principals. Infact, these principals bribe NYSC staff to boost up their teaching staff portfolio with corpers accounting for as high as 80 % in some schools.

Now, to the last question: what makes states like Imo and Anambra more special than Enugu in terms of enrollment? Are they shoring up their enrollment figures by accepting applicants from other states? I leave the forum to answer the rest because I am now confused.

Onlytruth: Below is the 2006 Population of Nigerian States

Rank State Population
1 Lagos State 9,313,534
2 Kano State 9,383,682
3 Kaduna State 6,066,562
4 Katsina State 5,792,578
5 Oyo State 5,591,589
6 Rivers State 3,185,400
7 Bauchi State 5,676,465
8 Jigawa State 4,348,649
9 Benue State 4,219,244
10 Anambra State 4,182,032
11 Borno State 5,151,193
12 Delta State 3,098,391
13 Imo State 2,934,899
14 Niger State 4,950,249
15 Akwa Ibom State 2,920,208
16 Ogun State 2,728,098
17 Sokoto State 4,696,999
18 Ondo State 2,441,024
19 Osun State 2,423,535
20 Kogi State 3,278,487
21 Zamfara State 4,259,846
22 Enugu State 3,257,298
23 Kebbi State 3,238,628
24 Edo State 3,218,332
25 Plateau State 2,178,712
26 Adamawa State 3,168,101
27 Cross River State 2,888,966
28 Abia State 2,833,999
29 Ekiti State 2,384,212
30 Kwara State 2,371,089
31 Gombe State 3,353,879
32 Yobe State 3,321,591
33 Taraba State 2,300,736
34 Ebonyi State 2,173,501
35 Nasarawa State 2,863,275
36 Bayelsa State 1,703,358
- Abuja Federal Capital Territory 1,405,201


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nigerian_states_by_population

koolboi: Imo state this year is a special case. The rise in applicants this year is due to the free education policies of Rochas

kettykin: I susbcribe that Revenue Allocation should be done not based on the Population of a state but based on the Population of Primary , Secondary , University Enrollment ,infact the Census should factor in these statistics ,it will help stop fraud of tripple, double counting during census and it will further push northern states to send their children to school and Boko Haram will be short of people to use.
Alternatively RMAC should get another 3% allocation for educationally advanced states to prevent the states will use this to create jobs and prevent their graduates from going into crime

Again Imo State Governor Should look at way of Building More Universities in Imo state to absorb these 123000 jambites or atmost increase the capacity of Imo state university . Imo State can create an industry out of this high education index.

~Bluetooth:

Most people prefer going to the interior villages in the east to write waec and jamb examinations because of malpractices.who wants to write exam in lagos and Abuja where there is strict supervision when you can get your 250 and above from one village in okija ? This figure does not translate to anything,it's just the usual student migration during exam period.if anybody has written jamb before,you'd understand better.

Tony Spike: While I cannot contest any of these figures. I believe these figures can only be meaningful if we can infer the following facts:

1. Do high figures of enrollment correspond to better quality of applicants?

2. Does the preference for a University relate to higher standard of teaching and facilities?

3. How many of these "preferred" Universities produce high quality graduates who can compete with their international colleagues?

4. Finally, don't we have occurences of applicants travelling to "special" states for UTME exams? As far as 12 years ago, I have heard that Imo state has lots of "special" centres. Thus, these large figures may give us an hint to their existence?

Based on my personal experience in Enugu as a Youth Corper some years back, I have the following observation:

1. Many of the full-fledged rural secondary schools i.e. J.S.S 1 to S.S.3 have an average of four teachers with at least 120 students per schools.

2. Many of these schools still manage to have as high as 100 students for WASC/NECO exams (don't ask me how they do it).

3. There's an apparently low-interest in secondary education there based on my 1-year interaction with the natives.

4. The arrival of corpers at these rural schools is seen as an achievement by the principals. Infact, these principals bribe NYSC staff to boost up their teaching staff portfolio with corpers accounting for as high as 80 % in some schools.

Now, to the last question: what makes states like Imo and Anambra more special than Enugu in terms of enrollment? Are they shoring up their enrollment figures by accepting applicants from other states? I leave the forum to answer the rest because I am now confused.

Onlytruth:

Exactly! Honestly I strongly believe that Imo state is being undercounted population-wise somehow. My statistical hunch tells me that the state is actually more populous than it is being credited with.
These figures are powerful.
The gap between Imo and Anambra (in enrollment) is almost 40,000; yet Anambra is about 1.8 times the population of Imo (per the official population figures!).
I know that Anambra is not as education minded as Imo, but not by that much. Honestly I don't know any Anambra kid THESE DAYS that is not sitting for JAMB even if there is no money to pay for the university. Before it used to be that kids just chose trading, but these days, they would pursue education first before returning to trading.
What the published figures say is that Imo kids are about [b]4 times [/b]more likely to enrol for JAMB than Anambra kids. I honestly don't believe that.