“Inem will have to sit for the JAMB examination again.” 

It was Ekanem, Inem’s father speaking to her mother as they sat at the dinner table. 

Inem was hiding behind the kitchen door, listening to herparents as they discussed over their dinner that night. Shecould feel a huge lump in her throat as she swallowed hard, locking her palms together and lifting her hands gradually so that she could place her locked palms on herhead; a sign that all her hope was lost.

She had sat for the JAMB examinations a couple of months before, but she did not meet the required cut-off mark for the course she wanted to study and the university she had applied to.  

Ah! JAMB! 

That examination had a way of humbling any smart Nigerian teenager! You walk into the examination hall with so much confidence and you walk out with the same level of confidence or even higher; then your result is out and you hold it in your hands, staring and wondering if your scripts were swapped! That was exactly how Inem felt when she saw her score. She was confused and embarrassed! 

“This can’t be my real score!”, She said to herself.

Inem did a flash-back and remembered the sleepless nights, studying in groups, reviewing past questions repeatedly until she knew each question and the correct answers by heart.  

“How did this happen? How?” Tears rolled down her face. 

She switched from her flash-back mode to catch a glimpse of the months ahead of her. She have to start reading again, go through the sleepless nights and as these thoughts went through her head, it suddenly occurred to her that after she writes the examination again, she will have to stay at home for a couple of months, waiting for the beginning of another school year. 

This time, she broke down and sobbed like a child who had lost her favorite toy or like a teenager who had lost her first love.  

Inem’s father was a principled man. He was one of those Nigerian civil servants who would never take a bribe, neither would he give one. He will not ask for unmerited favors and if even if he were deserving of that favor, yet denied, he would prefer to go through the required process again. Against his will, his neighbour had convinced him to go on a trip to see one of their mutual friends, who was a professor in the second university Inem had applied to. The purpose of the trip was to speak to the professor on her behalf and request for his assistance with her admission into the university, even though she scored below the cut-off mark required for admission into the faculty of law. She hoped her father will be able to work something out even though it was a venture that was out of his character. 

“My integrity is at stake”, he continued. “Professor Atamah is willing to help but he has asked for some money before he can include her name on his list. I cannot understand how such a brilliant man would sell his conscience because of money. He called it ‘fees for admission assistance’. I cannot understand it!”

He spoke in a tone that was a reflection of his feelings of disgust. 

“Inem will have to sit for that examination again”, he repeated to his wife.

Inem took a deep breath, wiping the tears off her eyes as she imagined again for the umpteenth time  how the next twelve months, or more, will play out for her. She knew her father’s mind was made up.
As she stood by the kitchen sink, cleaning up after dinner, her mother walked in. Without calling out her name, Beatrice, Inem’s mother,said to her daughter in her local Igbo dialect, which Inem could also speak and understand,  

“I nula nu ihe nna gi kwuru (you have heard what your father said). It is not the end of the world. Start reading and do the best you can to score higher this time so that we will not have to ask for this kind of favor again. I marala udi mmadu nna gi wu (you know the kind of father you have). I am surprised that he would even ask for help and you should be grateful that he did. Hichaa anya gi (wipe your eyes).”

Inem sighed. Heavily.

Her mother was the perfect ‘middle-man’ in the family. She could interpret and convey their father, Ekanem’s decisions to Inem and her siblings in a calm and peaceful manner, without stirring up anger or bitterness in them against him. 

Inem decided to let it go and move on. She did not have a choice anyway. There was no need crying over spilt milk. She had a job in a fast-food restaurant as a salesgirl and she had saved some money while she worked there for a little above a year. From her savings, she registered for the examination again, this time with a firm resolve and determination to pass. She also paid for JAMB preparatory classes and every evening after work, she would attend her classes before going home. On Saturdays, she would attend classes in the morning, show up for work at 3pmand return to the house at 11pm. There was no time to play or hop around with friends and if the thought ever crossed her mind, she reminded herself that if she failed again, there will be no one to ‘press buttons’ for her. The fear of staying at home for another year, for her, was the beginning of wisdom!

A few weeks to her examination date, she quit her job because she needed more time to study on her own. This time, she was not willing to take chances. Thankfully, she sat for the examination again and passed! She got the admission into the university of her choice and even though the course offered was her second choice, it did not matter to her. All she wanted was to be out of the house and in a university environment, just like her mates. 

Her father’s decision not to pay the ‘admission assistance fees’, even though it hurt her at that time, spurred Inem on to work hard and she carried on with the same momentum through school and after graduation. She realized that if she wanted to achieve anything in life, there was no alternative for her except to work hard for it. 

She also learnt that integrity pays and that you owe no one when you have earned it by yourself.