JAMB And Candidates: A Case Study Of Nigerian Institutions’ Disdain For Nigerians

Have you been to a Nigerian government agency recently? You must remember that officer attending to you with a scowl as if they were being forced to work. You must also remember wondering why they were so rude or dismissive. Don’t worry; you are not alone. Hostile reception is perhaps the default attitude of Nigerian civil servants.

Hence, they often treat Nigerians condescendingly in the privacy of government offices, making little known to the public. However, their disturbing behaviour is increasingly being known to the general public, thanks to social media. Now, people who have never been to a government office have an idea of the average Nigerian civil servant’s behaviour: uncivilised, rude, and bad-mannered.

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This familiar behaviour was on full display last weekend as the official X handle of the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) provided an incredibly insensitive response to a concerned parent. The parent complained that his daughter’s fingers could not be captured at the exam venue. He asked what their next step would be after they were told that the candidate’s exam would be rescheduled.

The JAMB X account bluntly responded, “Candidates whose fingers could not be captured will not be rescheduled.” Notably, the complainant’s child was not the only victim of JAMB’s biometric verification failure; there are several similar complaints on social media. Therefore, it was surprising to see the board outrightly dismiss the issue and try to punish candidates for what they had little or no control over.

JAMB’s response to the parent gets worse: The board went on an insensitive rant about why the candidate’s fingers were not successfully captured at the exam venue.

“The fingers that didn’t have problem at NIMC office during registration and was successfully captured during JAMB registration won’t suddenly develop issue during exam,” JAMB wrote, instead of trying to help.

After the strange response generated outrage from X users, JAMB deleted the post from its page. As if seeing the errors of its way, the board made a follow-up post hours later, saying candidates who experienced biometric verification failure were eligible for rescheduling. Pray tell, when did JAMB suddenly scrap its supposed policy of not rescheduling candidates for their exam?

While the insensitive response may be from just another ill-mannered civil servant, their unprofessional conduct represents a larger problem—Nigerian institutions’ utter disdain for taxpayers whom they are meant to serve. This is the same behaviour you encounter at most government offices. It is part of the civil service.

Let’s be clear: Nigerian taxpayers are the employers; civil servants serve the public. Therefore, it is unacceptable for civil servants to treat citizens as if they are doing them a favor simply for doing a job they are being paid to do. The disdain and condescension towards Nigerians must stop.

FURTHER READING

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Lastly, the Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation and states must urgently take steps to retrain ALL civil servants on responsible public engagement. They must also provide efficient public complaint platforms that allow taxpayers to report erring civil servants and there must be consequences.

Editor’s Note: The writer is a reporter with Eko Hot Blog. However, the views expressed in this article are not of the management.

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