Nigerian academics argue that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the sole agency permitted by law to conduct entrance examinations for all tertiary institutions in the country, needs to be decentralised and modernised if it is to stand any hope of dealing with the rampant corruption being uncovered within the body. JAMB has attracted a great deal of media attention over the past few weeks as a result of public hearings into several cases of corruption, particularly relating to the sale of official scratch cards, the biometric cards issued and used by JAMB for on-line registration of all examinations candidates.

Tanzania has suspended student loans amounting to TZS3.2 billion (US$1.5 million) affecting over 2,000 students, some of whom are believed to be non-existent as they failed to show up during a verification exercise. Media reports said the two-month-long exercise carried out twice was to confirm that the students who were benefiting through the Tanzania’s Higher Education Students’ Loans Board, or HESLB, at various institutions of higher learning actually existed and were legitimate students.

The Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities or AVCNU has proposed reforms to deal with the increasing number of individuals being promoted to professorships without apparently following due process.
At its recent annual conference, AVCNU took a unanimous decision to put forward a reform proposal to the National Universities Commission to arrest the trend, which is threatening the integrity of some institutions.
Some of the irregularities with regard to promotion have been leaked to the media, resulting in embarrassment for the affected universities. Since the story appeared, individuals have been emboldened to speak out about how other academics have become professors in questionable situations.

First, there was the #OromoProtest which led to the cancelation by the government in Ethiopia of the Ethiopia Higher Education Entrance Exam (EHEEE), which was scheduled to take place as of May 30. The leaking by unknown individuals and the dumping on the social media by Oromo activists of this national school leaving exam has now sparked a debate amongst Ethiopia’s net-citizens, and the media. Surprisingly (or not for that matter) the debate is on whether or not leaking the exams and dumping them online trespasses the moral obligation of safeguarding the academic lives of more than 250, 000 students who were readying to sit for the exams.

Following last month’s report by Transparency International, which ranked Rwanda as the fourth least corrupt country in Africa, The New Times spoke to the country’s Chief Ombudsman to make sense of current efforts against corruption. She says Rwanda can do more to fight corruption, starting by educating those who are still young by including values of integrity on the curriculum for primary schools. Teaching the right values to young people is key in fighting against corruption and it is in line with the country’s anti-graft policy.

The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) has closed down the College of Education and Entrepreneurship Lakwanjang Kaltungo in Gombe State with over alleged illegal operation. This followed a press release from the NCCE Public Relations Officer stating, “The attention of the Commission had earlier been drawn to unconfirmed information that an institution existed in Kaltungo that was illegally running Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programme.”

The Chairman of Executive Trainers Limited (ETL), and an expert in higher education-related issues, has called on the Federal Government to take its anti-corruption campaign to campuses of the institution of higher learning in the country. At a media briefing in Lagos, he expressed serious concerns at the level of decay in the nation's tertiary institutions, stressing that as facilities where future Nigerian leaders were trained, there was need for sanity in the sector.

The Basic Education Minister briefed media on the interim report submitted by a ministerial task team set up to probe allegations of selling of teachers’ posts. The Minister said the report confirmed there is corruption and undue influence in the appointment of teachers and school principals, there are weaknesses in the system and that the authority of the state and powers of certain stakeholders in the appointment process would need to be reviewed.

The North West provincial Government welcomes the release of an interim investigation report conducted on the sale of promotional posts in the various provinces. The Investigation was commissioned by the Minister of Basic Education following an outcry in provinces where this practice was purported to be prevalent.

Uganda joins the rest of Africa to mark the Africa Public Service Day, an annual event that recognizes value and virtue of service to the community. The objective is to raise the image of public service, thus enhance trust in government, collect, document and share best practices for possible replication within a country as well as across the African Continent.