Globusz^® Publishing 

January, February and March came and passed. The Senior School Certificate Examination would start in May and the University Matriculation Examination was also slated for May. With just a month bridging them and their final examination, excitement was high among the finalists of Boys Secondary School, Onitsha. The studious ones bid to outdo one another in studying. Many of the students were boarders. It became a common sight to see one or two boys emerging from hidden corner of the school compound armed with big books and kerosene lanterns. Few others would opt to go without meals while they murder their books for hours unending.

Such was the scenario when the school vacated for Easter holidays in April. The S.S.3 students were asked to check into school immediately after the Easter week so as to resume their preparations. The fear of the forthcoming examination did not deter Ifenna from partaking in the Easter festivities to the full. There were numerous uncles and friends to visit. Ifenna’s family, being a known one, always had invitations to weddings and similar events during festive periods. Ifenna make sure he attended most of these events and while there, drinks and new girlfriends. It was a common practice for adult relatives to inquire of their younger ones about their academic progress. To such inquiry, Ifenna would proudly enunciate that he would be sitting for his ‘WAEC’ and ‘JAMB’ in less than a month’s time. ‘JAMB’ like ‘WAEC’, was the common name among students for the entrance examination into universities organized by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The Easter week soon came to an end. Ifenna wished he would continue with the jamboree but then, he knew he had to report back to school and be with his mates.

In the school, studies resumed. The atmosphere was a lot cooler as other students were yet to return from holidays. The period, known as extension period was used by the exam-bound students to conclude their revisions in readiness for the examination. Most times, the day-students opt to move into the hostel for a more efficacious use of their time. Alternatively, they would come into school in the morning, study all day and leave at dusk. Ifenna would entertain neither of such programmes for himself. He entered school on days that pleased him, chat and joke with friends. He would then go to his desk, flip through pages of his textbook for sometime, understanding little. Finally he would lay down his head on his books and sleep. On waking, he would hurriedly pack his books and head for home.

One evening, exactly three days before the UME, Ifenna went to see Edwin. Edwin was a university student Ifenna met the previous Christmas period. Since then, Ifenna had always paid him a visit each time the latter returned from school. Edwin had fed Ifenna with lots of information about universities. In one of their meetings, Ifenna had suggested that he would need ‘help’ in his university entrance examination. Subsequently he persuaded Edwin to go with him to the exam, Edwin sat for his UME some four years ago and was presently studying Industrial Chemistry at the university. Ifenna applied for Geology and would be taking exams in three science subjects and hence, he believed Edwin would be equal to the task. For a fee of five thousand naira, Edwin accepted.

Edwin lived in the same area as Ifenna. They had moved in about a year previously. Their house at 108 Emmanuel Road was on old storey building. Edwin’s family occupied one of the flats on the ground floor. Ifenna entered the compound and closed the creaky gates behind him. He made for his destination.

“Good afternoon sir.” greeted Ifenna. Edwin’s father Mr. Udoka had opened the door when Ifenna knocked. Like his son, Mr. Udoka was short and dark-complexioned.

“Ehee, Ifenna. Welcome. How about your people?’

“They are all fine sir, Is Edwin home?”

Mr. Udoka nodded and waved him to a seat.

“Edwin!” the man called loudly.

Edwin answered from within and emerged almost immediately into the sitting room. From experience, everyone in Udoka’s family knew Mr. Udoka disliked calling someone twice. He was a retired primary school teacher and he ruled his family like one. All his children, even Edwin who was in his third year in the university, tried not to get into his black books.

“Ifenna” Edwin greeted as he stepped into the room.

“Edwin. I was wondering whether you have gone back to school...” commented Ifenna. Edwin eyed him quizzically. He then signaled Ifenna and they both left the sitting room. Edwin did not want to discuss his ‘business’ with his father around. A barrage of questions was sure to follow and that would still be the beginning. The real treatment would come later. Therefore he led Ifenna to the balcony and they discussed in low tones.

“You know it’s this Saturday?’ queried Ifenna.

“Yes, I know.”

“You’re ready then?”

“You don’t have to worry; we will show JAMB on Saturday

“I’m not worrying. O boy, I don’t want anything to keep me from making it to the campus this year”

“Relax. You will make it. How about the pay”?

“That will be no problem. I will make it available to you before Saturday; Friday may be. How exactly are we putting this off? How in the best way to do it? Will you be inside the hall?” asked Ifenna. He was a trifle worried about this game despite his long experience in exam cheating. ‘I should be worried. This is a different ball game - an external exam and my first.’ He had decided.

“See how it’s going to be,’ began Edwin “Immediately you receive the question papers....”

Friday came. Ifenna had been contemplating on how to convince his parents to part with five thousand naira. It was not that he usually find it difficult to obtain money from his parent but this time, he had to cough out a tangible reason. His mother particularly would not dance to the idea of him taking a mercenary to an examination.

The Primary schools were still on vacation and hence Mrs. Udemba, Ifenna’s mother was at home at around 9.00am. Ifenna went into his bedroom.

“Mummy, there is something I want to tell you” said Ifenna, leaning on the wall facing his mother who was sitting on the bed, a bible open on her laps.

“Yes Ife?” asked the woman, glancing up to look at his son whose ears has rebuffed all her admonitions “I need some money. You know I’ve not paid for the school extension period. I want to pay it today”, Ifenna lied.

“Do you pay for extension too? I thought it was free?” asked Mrs. Udemba suspiciously, the brows on her fair face creasing slightly, Ifenna had inherited his fathers dark complexion but his mother’s height and somewhat calm demeanor. It was evident, however, that neither parents donated to his lackadaisical attitude to education.

“We are been taught and the principal said we must all contribute five thousand naira each to compensate the teachers and offset the cost of the chemicals are used during our Practicals. We are rounding off the extension today since schools are resuming next week”. Ifenna hoped she would not investigate this story.

“Why did you not mention this until today, or were you told just yesterday?”

“No, but you know, with UME coming up tomorrow and SSCE beginning next week, I hardly remember other things” explained Ifenna. He then smiled. He knew this answer would get to his mothers heart. It did. She had always wanted him to think more about his academics.

Ifenna’s mother thought for a while. Her husband had traveled some days on business leaving her to head the house.

“Get me my hand bag,” she said finally, pointing to the table beside Ifenna.

Edwin prepared and left their house early in the morning. He had told his father that he would be going to his school to enquire about their resumption date and other things. As he made his way to the rendezvous he had agreed on with Ifenna, he could see throngs of youngsters who were probably heading for their various exam centers. Some, most likely too, would be going for the same purpose as he. ‘Today na today’ he said to himself. He had assured his client that he had revised all that was necessary for the examination and that he, Ifenna, should be looking forward to a high score in the exam. These assertions were not very far from a fallacy. Edwin had gone through, though briefly, some areas in Chemistry and Physics the previous night. He had all along brushed the idea of going back to revise his O’ level work basking on the presumption that the UME is too elementary for him to bother about. The night’s revision however left him a trifle worried. It reminded him that between him and UME were four years. Being a Chemistry student gave him a little advantage with the subject but what about others – Physics, Mathematics and Use of English?

Nonetheless, he had to earn his five thousand naira.

He met Ifenna at the end of their street and together, they strolled down to the near-by Ugwunabankpa road and then to Okosi road junction. Ifenna’s exam centre was at Town Girls Secondary School, Inland Town. They waited for a taxi to convey them to their destination. None of the taxis passing them had vacant seats as it was early in the morning. Most people – traders, workers, students – were also en route to their various concerns. They therefore hailed one of the commercial motorcyclists known as okada and were soon on their way to Town Girls Secondary School.

The centre stood along one of the major roads in Inland Town. A big gate led into the school premises. Walls surrounded the entire compound. The walls were high at some place and low at some other places. At one or two points along the walls, gaps existed. Just before the walls were the teacher’s farms. A small clearing separated these farms and the classrooms.

From where Ifenna sat in one of the classrooms with other candidates, he could see quite a number of young men and women hanging around at different parts of the farm and even near the classrooms. He knew what they came for as he could also see Edwin among one group. The latter waved when their eyes met.

Soon the invigilators started giving out the question papers. It was exactly 9.50am and the exam was to start at 10.00am. Brisk movements were noticed everywhere in the farms. A tall lanky young man clad in faded jeans and tight polo shirt emerged from the direction of the classroom carrying some papers. A tight circle of bodies automatically formed around him as he made his way towards the walls.

Ifenna was just receiving his question paper when he saw Edwin at one of the windows.

“Ifenna! Type! Type what!” he called.

Ifenna checked his paper.

“Q! Type Q!” he called back. Similar loud conversations went on all around the examination hall. The examiners were still busy distributing the question papers and hence, paid no attention. In the UME, the questions were arranged in different forms or types in particular subject. “V!”, “S!” and the rest filled the room in very loud whispers as if in defiance to the JAMB’s purpose of introducing this ‘Type’ system-- to impede the growing rate of cheating.

In the farm, Edwin ran to the nearest group squatting around a question paper. He checked the ‘type”. It was not Q. again he rushed off to another group near the wall. They had what he was looking for. He got entangled with the rest of the ‘mercenaries’ and almost popped his eyes out in an effort to read the content of the paper. It was Use of English and it had a hundred questions. He took out a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket and laboriously wrote out numbers from 1 till 100 then he began to read the first comprehension passage. He was sweating profusely by the time he was through with the passage. He had to keep pushing off someone at his back that was almost falling over him to see the questions. A lady beside him kept covering his face with her stray hairs. The sun blazed down on their heads. All these made his progress very clumsy.

It took Edwin quite some time to finish attempting the questions following the first passage. They were only five and time appeared to be racing. He left the remaining four passages and started answering the objective question. When he had attempted ten questions, he regretted not having done a proper revision. The questions were like hard nuts, resisting cracking. He glanced around him. Most people seemed to be duplicating the answers of the boy at the centre of the group. “Maybe he is intelligent, who knows?’ Edwin thought. He then pushed nearer to the boy and imitated the rest. Soon his piece of paper was filled up. He rose with others and made for Ifenna’s hall.

Ifenna saw him coming and was on alert. He had shaded almost nothing on his computer answer sheet. Once the invigilator nearest to him turned his back to him, a crumbled piece of paper flew from Edwin’s crouching position near the window to Ifenna’s desk. Ifenna hurriedly picked it and hid it on his laps under the desk. He then proceeded to fill in the answers. When he had finished, he handed it to a fat sweaty girl beside him who had been imploring him for assistance.

The first paper lasted for about one hour after which the next round of examination papers was shared. Ifenna’s own contained Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. Again information about the ‘type’ was sent out and Edwin went into motion. He was not afraid. In his wallet were three thousand naira, part of the five thousand naira Ifenna had given to him. That would be enough to bail him out of trouble should there be any. He went in search of a group bearing Ifenna’s ‘type’. It had never ceased to amaze him how those people manage to smuggle out question papers. He decided to find out later but then, he had work to do. With three subjects to cope with, it became even more difficult. He had to join in solving any page he could see as the papers for the three subjects were bound together. Fortunately, the young man who appeared to be the leader of the group decided to start with Chemistry. Edwin worked as fast as he could. He was not certain in more than half of the fifty questions but he chose an answer anyway. When through, he rushed to the usual window and sent in his ‘missile’. He came back to the group. By then, he was tired to the bones. As he could not trust himself in solving mathematics and Physics correctly, he copied from others. All around him, everyone was busy. Young girls in tight jeans and scanty tops sauntered from group to group, papers and pens battling in their hands. At one end of the compound, two rough-looking young men were struggling over something, probably a question paper. Everywhere was generally becoming rowdy.

Edwin had not finished but he was becoming uncomfortable. It remained about twenty questions and he decided that he could no longer wait for their ‘leader’. He then quickly wrote down whatever he felt could be the answers to the remaining questions and marched off as usual. Ifenna gladly received the piece of paper and with great enthusiasm filled his answer sheet. Not long after, he submitted his papers and left the hall to join Edwin outside.

“Police!” shouted someone. Stampede ensued in the front yard of he school. A rickety police van nosed its way into the compound. Ifenna and Edwin joined the rest of the youths at the background as all made for the walls.