I passed through a school setting where bribery from students to lecturers was the norm, to the extent that H.O.D (Heads Of Departments) were well involved. Whenever a case gets out of hand, say, a lecturer got caught, it gets cold immediately because there is absolutely no one to report to. In a case whereby reports are made to the sector in charge of such a case, it dies off immediately because all of them work together and the student (reporter) suffers at the end.
Towards Christmas break in my 400th grade in school, which was the end of that semester, most of the lecturers organized a test (continuous assessment) for us, and Mr. Udubra was left out. We asked him why he didn't give the necessary test as a regular pattern in the school, and he said he doesn't have time and he wants to fill up the mark with our practicals.
Wow! We all felt good because that's advantageous to us; we would get 40 marks on a stretch without racking the brain for a test.
Towards exam period, an announcement was made by our class captain that we should go and submit the filled-out practical manuals in Mr. Udubra's office, and they must be submitted personally.
I hurried up and filled the empty space remaining and headed to his office, which was in a hydraulics laboratory. I got there and met a long queue, which was abnormal since it was just to submit and leave.
"Guy, what's the queue all about? Is the lecturer not in?" I asked one of my course mates on the queue and he laughed, "Hahahah, where have you been? Haven't you heard that Udubra is collecting 5,000 naira for the submission of the practical manuals?"
"Haaaa! That's wickedness!" I exploded, and other guys around turned to look at who's vexing anger.
I walked away from the queue and went to sit down on one of the brick chairs on the field. I was deeply angry because I knew what sorting meant to these lecturers. I wish I had the superpower to go in there unnoticed and get him paralyzed, at least for a period of one month, I was just Imagining nonsenses that make a lot of senses to me.
I was still on the spot, pouring out my anger into the open air, and I had a drop of bird's feeces on my white ironed shirt in the shoulder spot. Out of anger, I got up and wanted to stone the bird, but I remembered I wasn't a good archer, so I remained calm, tore a small piece of paper from my book, and cleaned off the shit, but the black spot remained.
After spending like 30 minutes there, I decided to go back to the man's office, and on getting there, I met the space harboring the long queue empty.
"Where did the people go?"
I muttered and walked to Udubra's office. I met him sitting in his chair with a low-budget black earpiece on his ears.
"Good afternoon, sir. I want to submit muy practical manual."
He reached out to his glass, fixed it to his eyes, collected his pen, ready to write my name, "Okay, what's your name?"
"I'm Kingsley, sir," I calmly answered, but my mind was boiling inside, and I wished I had a superpower to manipulate his mind.
He flipped off his book to the place that has the record of people that have submitted, and I peeped to see that 300 students have submitted already, and I quickly ran a calculation within my mind—that's 1.5 million naira already.
Just about to write my name, he remembered that I hadn't paid, so he stretched his right hand towards me, expecting me to drop the money on his palm.
"Sir, I'm not with money, and I want to beg if..." I was about to beg when he raised his voice,
"Young man, just drop your manual there and get out!" His countenance changed immediately when he heard my plea, and he shouted, pointing his finger to a table containing the practical manuals of the goats among the sheep.
The space was containing just four practical manuals, and I knew those people were doomed to failure already, but what about me? I wasn't having the money, and beside, I vowed not to bribe any lecturer all through my schooling.
I wanted to plead again, but he raised a more fiery voice at me, "Drop it there and leave my office!".
I didn't know what pushed me, I saw myself with boldness, walked to the table, dropped it, and walked out with my shoulder raised, like I had defeated The Undertaker in a WrestleMania.
"That's 40 marks lost!" The bold spirit cleared off my eyes when I came out of his office, and seeing that my chances of passing the course lie in the upcoming exam, which is 60 marks, and it's not possible for one to get the complete 60 marks in the exam sitting, I targeted at 50 marks, at least that will scale me through.
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The motivation got me rescheduled all my activities with more time and attention focused on the particular course. I really chopped every part of the course with a series of sleepless nights. If it were possible for me to implant a chip into my brain for that course, as we see in movies, I would have done that.
Exam day came, and I was glad that all I studied came out and I did my best.
The result came out, and I got a 'B', which means 70 marks.
"How did I get that?" This is the question I kept asking myself till today because we don't get our script to see our scores on the exam; it's only what the lecturer gives to the result board that we see. Maybe the lecturer decided to top up from the practical manual, or maybe I did excellently well in the exam and was given 70 marks out of 60 marks. Is that possible? I don't know. Lol.
Thanks for reading.