Ekene Iroghuma, 19, has dropped out of school because he wants to make straight As in his General Certificate of Education O' Level examination next year.
He said he is leaving school because he wants to concentrate on his film rental business and make enough money to pay for the ‘speacial centre', the miracle tutorial centre that now abound in Lagos.
Although it sounds bizarre, Iroghuma is just adopting the newest and easiest path to ‘arranging good grades' that would make admission into any tertiary institutions a matter forgone.
To make their investment in the education sector worth the sweat, operators of these centres allegedly collude with examination invigilators, and in some cases WAEC officials not only to relax the invigilation, but to also assist in securing question papers hours before the examination thus favouring their candidates who often pay exhorbitantly to obtain these ‘favours'.
These centres deploy all means possible to obtain good grades for their students. They advertise aggressively and their banners and hand bills compete for space with church posters from the dirty walls of public buildings to the grimy sides of garbage bins.
Pinnacle Education Academy, located at the Obelle Primary School, Lawanson, Surulere, is one of such agency. The academy conducts remedial lessons and online registration of examinations such as WASSCE, NECO, UME, POST UME, etc.
Proprietor Damilola Adewara sums up the agency's real business; "Our real aim is making sure those candidates that pay special fees pass the exams," he said. Cheating in examinations is what agencies like Pinnacle specialises in.
They provide answers, hours before the candidates enter their examination halls, and even, in some cases, write for absentee candidates.
"We call it NA, an acronym for non available candidates. Though, I advice all of them to try and attend lessons and be at the exam, so that they will see what we are doing for them," Rotimi Aseye, a co-proprietor at Pinnacle, said.
He describes their services: "We arrange with the JAMB and WAEC people... security is no problem. Once you have your money, everything is possible, we even do aptitude test (Post UME) for our people at UNILAG." The agency charges N5,000 for three months' worth of lectures and N15,000 for fixing the examinations.
The problem is not limited to Lagos. Texas Institute is another of such agencies located in Aba, the commercial nerve center of Abia State. The proprietor, Ifeanyi, Umeh provides detailed insights into the workings of this cabal.
"We buy serial numbered online cards from our contacts at WAEC, NECO or JAMB so that all our candidates get to be posted to a particular school of our choice. We have private schools, especially on the outskirts of the town, where the proprietors work hand in hand with us," he said.
The next stage varies, according to the agency. Some of them induce officials of the various examination bodies to leak the question papers to them, days before the examination, which they solve and distribute to their candidates on exam day.
It will be recalled that WAEC cancelled and rewrote, some papers during the last May/June Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations because of widespread leakage of examination papers.
Some don't take that gamble. They hire experts (especially undergraduates) majoring in the respective areas to solve the questions on examination day and pass on to the candidates, for example, an Accountancy undergraduate can be hired to solve mathematical questions.
The corrupt proprietors of these private schools collect bribes from these agents and look the other way.
"As for the WAEC people, we leave them to the school owners to settle them. We pay the school owners to make sure the school is conducive for our business, they have to make sure invigilators, security and other people involved get their own and comply," said Ifeanyi.
Ilesanmi Aduloju, Public Relations Officer of WAEC, said it was not his duty to comment on these issues.
"I can not talk to the press, the only person authorized to talk to you is (Yusuf) Ari, the Principal Public Relations Officer," he said. Mr. Ari responded to repeated calls to his mobile with an SMS, "In a board meeting outside Lagos. Call some other time pls." However, an official of the council who pleaded anonymity said the corrupt officials exist mainly in the Council's state offices and are almost outside the control of the Head Office.
"We send papers to the liaison offices, who are now mandated to ensure that examinations are conducted appropriately.
We have been receiving, with dismay, these complaints, and the National Head has recently set up a committee to probe these offices and flush out the bad eggs before the next exams," he said.
Ifeanyi scoffs at the possibility of being run out of business.
"When they introduced online registration, some people thought we will fold but we got around it. Whatever they come out with, we will sit down and fashion out how to address it. It is difficult to refuse the money we offer them," he said.
Ekene is working hard, and saving hard, to be able to afford the services of the likes of Pinnacle and Texas come June next year.
He hopes to make grades good enough to enable him gain effortless admission to the university to study his dream course - law.