The suspension of the conduct of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in Nigeria by the United State’s-based Education Testing Service(ETS) has come to the affected beneficiary communities in Nigeria with shock and frustration. The groups that are mainly affected by this suspension are teenagers and young adults most of who are in a desperate quest to pursue their tertiary education including Post Graduate studies in foreign countries especially Unites States of America. As stated above, the examinations are conducted by a “not for profit organization” called “Education Testing Service (ETS)”. In early November, the ETS abruptly and swiftly suspended both registration and testing for the examinations in Nigeria. This decision was taken on the grounds of alleged nebulous reason of ‘Security Concerns””. As a result of this action, a large number of candidates who had registered for the examinations have since been subjected to immense trauma, shock and agony as they feel frustrated and abandoned and do not know how to resolve the impasse. At the time the news of the suspension was posted on the website of ETS, the applicants for the examination for that diet had fully paid their registration fees and had even arrived the various local centres in Nigeria to write the test. Even worse is that the affected applicants were sent broadcast mails to inform them of the suspension of the tests with a proviso that their fees had been refunded through the local agents in Nigeria, even though no such refunds had been made . This wrong information has created a conflict between the management of the various centres and the students who now suspect that their refunded moneys might have been embezzled or hijacked by the agents of ETS in Nigeria. As we speak, the examination fees have yet to be refunded either directly to the students or through their various test centres located in the various cities in Nigeria.
The pertinent question now is: why was this hostile action exclusively targeted at the applicants in Nigeria? Could they have taken such a rash decision in their own First World countries or even in the other nations in the Third World Countries, sorry, Developing Countries? It is pertinent to state that the GRE and TOEFL tests are still ongoing in other African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon and the like. Why this dichotomy to Nigeria- a country that is indispensable in the stability of the Developing Nations. Since most Nigerian youths and young adults have a mindset of pursuing their tertiary education in the United States, Europe and other countries in the First World, there is an urgent need for the relevant authorities in Nigeria to subject this draconian and arbitrary policy of the Education Testing Service (ETS) to stringent scrutiny in order to ascertain the reasons for this obnoxious decision which is a classic case of selective justice and dichotomy. Could this be a plot to shut Nigerians from access to tertiary education in the countries of The First World? The reason that the tests were suspended on the grounds of security reasons is nebulous and wishy washy, more so, since this policy was taken long before the U.S. Officially labelled the BOKO Haram Group as a terrorist organization
The implication of the present ban is that Nigerians who are desperate to write the GRE and TOEFL examinations will now travel to such countries like Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and the others. Such students will spend heavily by way of travelling, hotel and miscellaneous expenses in addition to other concomitant risks. Records show that some of those who write these tests are already on the staff of the various private and public sector organizations: Ministries , Agencies and Departments (MADS). If the tests are taken in Nigeria, such applicants can take the tests on Saturdays and return to their places of abode and employment without causing any major disruptions and dislocations in the person’s workplace or sundry schedules. On a related note, moneys spent by such students in a bid to travel out of the country will be a source of avoidable capital flight coupled with the inescapable fact that right thinking members of the global community will see it as a diplomatic humiliation of Nigeria , the fabled Giant of Africa. It will also give the impression that Nigeria is a giant with the head of a Salamander.
What is the involvement of Hon EMEKA IHEDIOHA on this issue? In the headline to this analysis, I said that this report is an Open Memo to Hon Emeka Ihedioha. As you probably know, Hon Emeka Ihedioha is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 6th person in the order of protocol in Nigeria. He represents Abor-Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal constituency in Imo State but by his position as Deputy Speaker of the Green Chamber, the entire country has become his constituency. I am persuaded to address this open memo to him because as an indigene of Imo State, and media professional, I am full aware that aside the fact that he is a grass roots legislator, Hon Emeka Ihedioha has a limitless appetite for constituency projects. His intimidating record in the area of constituency projects is a story for another day. It is his passion for constituency projects, especially in the area of youth and women empowerment, that has impelled me to channel this complaint through his office in the hope that he will react promptly and timely in order to ascertain the remote and immediate cause or causes of the prococative policy of the Board of “Educational Testing Service” which has shut out Nigerians from participating in the GRE and TOEFL tests. I am confident that Hon Emeka Ihedioha knows what to do once this complaint gets to him. He may decide to refer it to the Chairman, House Committee on Education or to the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister of Education for investigation and decisive action. I am making this appeal because most of those who are affected by this policy are still very young and confused and they have a mind set that the indefinite suspension of the GRE and TOEFL tests is a death sentence which they will never accept. Most of them have vowed to take any risks, no matter how perilous and fatal, rather than come to terms with the controversial policy of shutting them out of the GRE and TOEFL tests with its concomitant shutting them out of pursuing the fabled Golden Fleece in the First World countries. Finally, I wish to advise our youths that when issues like this happen, they should take their grouse or complaints to their elected members in the State and National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).I am not unmindful of the fact that most of our elected politicians are very insensitive and indifferent of the travails of their constituents; but the good news is that there are quite a number of them who have not forgotten the days of little beginnings. It is on account of this that I am referring this issue to the office of the Deputy Speaker, Hon EMEKA IHEDIOHA who, I hope, will handle this matter decisively. On a related note, our medial professionals should strive to use the agenda setting role of the Press to bring such nagging issues to the knowledge of the policy makers in the system. Yes, “Agenda Setting’ is one of the critical roles of the Fourth Estate(The Press) all over the world and this responsibility should not be compromised, more so, in a country such as ours where most policy makers are often indifferent to the travails of the masses, the hewers of wood and drawers of water.
John Mgbe
