Some students of the Ahmadu Bello University Distance Learning Centre (ABU DLC) have criticised the school’s decision to conduct exams at its Maiduguri centre despite the September flood that has affected the lives of over a million residents.

The ABU DLC had scheduled exams to commence on Friday in respective centres across the country. No one would have batted an eyelid at the school’s unwavering decision to go ahead with exams in the Maiduguri centre if there had been no major incident like the flooding on Tuesday.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 70% of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, had been submerged on Tuesday, leaving several people trapped as the flood intensified when many residents were asleep.

EQ also reported on Tuesday that the flood had displaced crocodiles, snakes, and other reptiles from the Sanda Kyarimi Zoological Park in Maiduguri.

Videos of people watching as the flood washed away all of their properties and children being rescued have surfaced on social media since the flood began.

Despite these, the ABU DLC wrote its students via email on Wednesday informing them that exams in the Maiduguri centre would be held.

Email sent to ABU DLC students

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The email read:

“URGENT INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS TO WRITE EXAMS AT MAIDUGURI

“This mail is ONLY for students who chose Maiduguri as their examination centre in the May 2024 Semester Examination.

“Exams will still be held at the Maiduguri centre.

“However, those who selected Maiduguri for their exams and cannot write the exams due to the psychological trauma of the flood have two options:

“1. Apply for emergency deferment to the director via mail (dlc@abu.edu.ng), attaching evidence of their exam slip printout.

“2. Visit the Yola centre to take their exams.”

Nana Aisha (not her real name), a student of the ABU DLC who resides in Maiduguri but chose another centre for the exams, told EQ on Thursday morning that this was a rash move by the institution and that she was concerned about other students.

“I wonder how they will make their way to the Maiduguri centre. My main concern is that some do not even have the means to see that particular email and are most likely not even in the right state of mind,” Aisha said.

“I think there should be an automatic rescheduling for those in Maiduguri. I wonder what would happen to them if they miss the exams without applying for the emergency deferment.”

EQ also learnt that the option of travelling to the Yola centre to write their exams was not feasible, as Yola is about a 10-hour drive from Maiduguri.

Nana Aisha was not the only one with concerns.

Some X users have taken to the microblogging platform to fault the institution’s decision.

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@_Gonii, an X user, posted:

“In all of this devastating moment for us, @ABU_DLC is asking its students in Maiduguri to either go to Adamawa to write the scheduled exams or defer the semester. If it is unsafe for invigilators to visit, then it is unsafe for us to leave for Adamawa.”

In all of this devastating moment for us, @ABU_DLC is asking its students in Maiduguri to either go to Adamawa to write the scheduled exams or defer the semester.If it’s not safe for invigilators to visit then it’s not safe for us to leave for Adamawa.Repost this, please.— GONI (@__Gonii) September 11, 2024

In another post, he said that he had learnt that the school gave the students the option of writing the exams in Maiduguri at the scheduled time but was still concerned about the safety of the students.

“Is it practically possible to write exams in Maiduguri at this time? Even if there is a safe venue to write the exams, are the students safe to roam about the streets now?” he wrote on X.

EQ emailed ABU DLC on Thursday, but it had not responded at press time.
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