Group petitions education minister on NECO appointments

A group, the Citizens Advocacy for Equity and Educational Development, has petitioned the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, regarding recent appointments at the National Examinations Council headquarters.

The group said in a statement on Friday that the appointments were characterised by nepotism and ethnicity.

The petition, signed by the group’s coordinator, Cyril Ijegwa, and presented before the education minister, said it noted that the examinations body had of late been dominated by South-easterners right since the days of Professor Promise Okpala as the registrar.

It argued that since the establishment of NECO, four out of the five registrars appointed so far had been from the Southern region, with most of them hailing from the south-east.

The group said the “lopsided” appointment of the NECO Registrar in favour of the south-east had made “favouritism” and “nepotism” to become the order of the day in terms of promotion and transfer of staff members of the body.

It then urged the Minister of Education, Adamu, to “save NECO from the fever and fear of another crisis by swapping Prof. Charles Uwakwe with another appointee among those from the North in order to break the education agency from the sustained pang of ethnicity and nepotism.”

Excerpts from the petition read, “While we do not begrudge the appointment of any individual, it has been brought to our consistent notice that the streak of appointments since the reign of Prof. Promise Okpala was nothing but a conduit for ethnic perpetuation and ingratiation which continued with the subsequent appointment of Prof. Tommy Joshua.

“The acts of nepotism perpetrated by this duo resulted in sustained massive outcry against their actions. Especially when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that the national headquarters of NECO is instructively sited in the Northern region of the country.

“Getting out of this mess, NECO should be saved from plunging into the same crises again. Our educational agencies should not be seen as platforms for doing private business as Prof. Uwakwe is a tribesman, colleague and friend to Prof. Okpala.

“This has thus resulted in the consignment of merit and excellence to the back seat whilst mediocrity and eye service has become the order of the day.”