Five-year Jail Term For Exam Cheats Unfair —

The Independent Corrupt Practices
and other related offences
Commission has faulted the five-
year jail term proposed for
examination fraudsters. It said the
law was unfair to students, who
were not provided with basic
learning tools.
It blamed the spate of examination
frauds in the country on
infrastructural deficiency in the
education sector.
The Chairman, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, in an
interview with our correspondent,
said more examination cheats were
found in schools where there was
shortage of human and material
resources.
He criticised proprietors of schools,
both government and private, saying
educational institutions should meet
standards or be shut down.
He said it was time stakeholders
examined the structure, which had
been promoting corruption. He
added that once the system was
corrected, the individuals would be
corrected.
Nta said the last time students
accused of exam malpractices were
brought to the commission, he
investigated their background and
the schools they came from. He
noted that record of exam
malpractices was very low in ‘top’
schools, including public ones.
“It is very rare. Laboratories,
libraries, computers, dormitories,
dining halls and highly qualified
teachers are in such schools. How
will a child who has gone through
such schools be involved in exam
malpractices?
“By the time you begin to check
those arrested for exam
malpractices, they are from
community schools, where there is a
math teacher for the whole school;
no science teacher. And then, you
turn around to arrest a child who is
a victim (of the inadequacies).
“If you prosecute such a child and
jail them for five years, when you
never gave them an opportunity, you
will only make them toughened
criminals when they are out. You
didn’t give them a chance in the first
instance, then, you jailed them in
addition,” the ICPC boss observed.
President Goodluck Jonathan,
through the immediate past
Education Minister, Prof. Ruqquayat
Rufa’i, had introduced a fine of
N200, 000 or five-year jail term or
both for examination cheats.
Rufa’i had tabled a memo before the
Federal Executive Council, seeking
approval for the enactment of an Act
to amend the WAEC Act, CAP W4,
Laws of 2004 to give effect to the
revised convention of WAEC, 2003 in
Nigeria.
The FEC had approved the
amendment, with the office of the
Attorney-General reportedly fine-
tuning it, before it was taken to the
National Assembly for passage.
Source:- www.punchng.com/news/five-
year-jail-term-for-exam-cheats-unfair-icpc/

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