The Lekki Headmaster: summary for JAMB

About the novel

The Lekki Headmaster is a novel by Kabir Alabi Garba, a Nigerian journalist and author. It came out in 2023. JAMB made it the Use of English novel for UTME 2025, in place of The Life Changer, and kept it for UTME 2026.

UTME 2027: JAMB has not yet named the novel for the 2027 exam. JAMB usually announces it around registration time. Until then, The Lekki Headmaster is the latest JAMB novel, and we will add any new novel here as soon as JAMB names it.

The JAMB novel is compulsory for every UTME candidate, whatever course you want to study. Its questions come in the Use of English paper; the official syllabus sets about 5 of the 60 questions on it. Candidates get a printed copy when they register.

The book has 12 chapters, each with a title. The first is "Dusk..." and the last is "...Dawn".

The main character is Mr Adebepo Adewale (Bepo), the much-loved principal of Stardom Schools, an expensive private school in Lekki, Lagos. He has worked there for 24 years. His wife, Seri, is a nurse in the UK, and she and their children want him to "japa" (leave Nigeria) and join them. The story follows Bepo as he prepares to leave, and it is full of his memories of school life, parents, teachers and Nigeria.

The story is told in the third person, staying close to Bepo's thoughts. It uses many flashbacks, humour and proverbs.

The big message: money is not everything. Bepo's real calling is teaching young Nigerians, and in the end his heart brings him back to his school.

Chapter 1: Dusk...

It is morning assembly at Stardom Schools. A student, Ikenna Egbu (SSS1), gives a talk about a school trip to Jos. He praises Jos's cool weather and its rocks, and says he would rather settle in Jos than "japa" to Canada or London. The students clap for him.

Then the principal, Mr Adebepo Adewale, walks slowly to the front, takes the microphone, and says nothing. The microphone falls with a loud bang, and he starts to cry in front of everyone.

The Vice Principal, Mrs Grace Apeh, asks the Chemistry teacher, Mr Justus Anabel, to end the assembly and send the students to class. The school nurse, Titi, gives Bepo a handkerchief. In his office, he keeps crying for more than 30 minutes. Rumours start to spread among parents.

We learn some background. Students love the principal, a tall, light-skinned man who wants them to grow in every way. He is nicknamed "The Lekki Headmaster". The school is strict about results: the day before, it celebrated a 90% success rate in WASSCE, and teachers whose students got poor grades were scolded.

The Managing Director (MD), Mrs Ibidun Gloss, arrives and asks why the man who usually calms everyone is now the cause of worry. The Physics teacher, Pastor Ope Wande, talks gently to Bepo and suggests calling his wife, but the call to London does not go through. The MD worries about the school's image, and the guidance counsellor, Mrs Egbin, takes Bepo home.

Chapter 2: The Enticement

After some days, Bepo tells the school the reason for his tears: he is resigning and moving to the UK. His wife Seri and their children, Nike and Kike, are already there, and they have joined forces to make him come. His delay has almost broken his marriage.

Bepo has spent 24 years at Stardom: first as headmaster of Stardom Kiddies (the nursery and primary school), then as principal of the secondary school. The nickname "The Lekki Headmaster" came from the Fine Arts teacher, Mr Audu. He compared Bepo's skill at settling quarrels among staff to King Oloja in the old TV drama "Village Headmaster".

In the staffroom, teachers gossip about the money. Seri, a nurse, earns up to £10,000 a month. Bepo has been offered a UK teaching job paying about £3,600 a month, while Stardom pays him about ₦400,000 a month. Mr Oyelana warns that life abroad is costly, but Mr Audu says Bepo would be foolish to refuse.

Bepo had other plans. He meant to retire at 55, four years away, and start a business. After his youth service (NYSC), he and a friend had started a school called Fruitful Future, but it failed because parents in the area could not afford it. He had also thought about farming, food, water and transport. Now he puts all these dreams aside.

Chapter 3: Migration Tales

Bepo thinks about the stories of Nigerians who have gone abroad, the good and the bad.

He likes that workers abroad are paid by the hour, so every hour of work counts. He sees how nurses, doctors and other professionals are leaving Nigeria, and how many people travel on study visas so their families can come along.

Some people "japa" in shameful ways. A staff member, Mr Nku, took a ₦2 million loan from the school's cooperative and left the country two days later. A school driver even tried to sell the school bus.

There are mixed stories:

• Sola, a former Stardom teacher, moved to Manchester with her husband. They sold everything and borrowed about ₦4 million. She has changed jobs several times, but she says life there has its good side: free schooling and healthcare for children.
• Jare left a good bank job in Nigeria, only to find that his job in London was caring for an old couple. He wept.
• Hope, an accountant, went to the UK for a Master's degree paid for by his wife, but she stopped paying after a few months.
• Riike did well in America and bought two houses in Ibadan.

Bepo remembers a proverb from an Idoma neighbour: the sugarcane and the bitter leaf drink the same rain, yet one is sweet and the other bitter. In the same way, people who travel get different results.

Chapter 4: A Case of Visa Denied

Late one night, Bepo gets a call from a parent, Mrs Ignatius. Her family had planned to relocate. Her husband, Mr Ibe Ignatius, a manager in an oil company, wanted to leave Nigeria, and she had quit her job and learned new trades to prepare.

But during the visa process, a DNA test showed that Mr Ignatius was not the father of their daughter Favour, a 15-year-old SSS2 student at Stardom. He drove Favour and her mother out of the house, and the visas were refused. Bepo advises patience, but he knows the marriage may not survive.

Bepo reflects that some rich parents can be proud and difficult. He decides that no experience is wasted, and plans to write a book about his years at Stardom.

He also remembers another parent, Mrs Ladele. Her daughter Bibi had nightmares about her Government teacher, Mr Ayesoro, whose deep tribal marks made students call him "Mr Owala". After Mrs Ladele complained, the school moved Bibi to another sports house and transferred Mr Ayesoro to Stardom Hub, the property arm of the company, just to keep the family happy.

Chapter 5: Snake in the Roof

The MD has a painful health problem that makes it hard for her to sit for long. One day, instead of resting, she takes a walk through the back gate to a piece of land the school bought two years earlier.

She is shocked to find it full of cars, about 17 of them, plus two buses, all belonging to teachers and staff. She fears that school money is being stolen. She calls the principal and the accountant, Mr Jeremi Amos.

Bepo explains that the staff bought the cars with loans from the Stardom Cooperative Society, which they repay from their salaries. The MD angrily asks how the cooperative has so much money that it can buy "every fool" a car. The word "fool" hurts both men.

At a board meeting the next day, they learn that the cooperative holds ₦95 million, and more than ₦50 million has been lent out. The board fears staff could use such money to start a rival school. They describe the danger as "hanging a snake in the roof and going to bed", meaning keeping a hidden danger in your own house. The board decides that no staff loan can be more than ₦250,000, and every loan must be approved by the MD.

Chapter 6: Ade as Well as Jide: COMES vs. COME

It is Open Day, when parents visit the classes. Bepo hates writing the letters that sack teachers, and teachers at Stardom can lose their jobs easily.

A parent, Mr Guta, checks his son's notebook and demands that the English teacher, Mr Fafore, be sacked at once. Fafore is called out of his class and dismissed without knowing why. He is shocked. He has served the school for 22 years, still earns very little, and lives far away in Ifo.

At an emergency meeting, the MD explains the complaint. Fafore had written the sentence "Ade as well as Jide comes early." Mr Guta and the MD say it should be "come". The MD insults the teachers and blames the principal for not checking lesson notes.

Bepo calmly says the sentence is correct. When two subjects are joined by "as well as" (or "together with" or "alongside"), the verb agrees with the first subject, so it stays singular: "Ade as well as Jide comes early." Only "and" would need "come": "Ade and Jide come early."

Everyone checks on their phones and finds that Bepo is right. The MD is embarrassed, Mr Audu makes a joke to calm things down, and Fafore gets his job back.

Bepo also remembers his own hard days: when he was jobless, he spent ₦2,500 of his co-tenants' electricity money. When NEPA cut the light, he was found out and laughed at.

Chapter 7: Ritualists

Bepo remembers his first job, as Senior English Teacher at Beesway Group of School on the outskirts of Lagos. He told the director, Mr Egi Meko, that the name should be "Group of Schools". Mr Meko mocked him, calling him "the Englisher", and said the name came from God. When parents raised the same point at a PTA meeting, Meko blamed Bepo.

One night at the staff quarters, Bepo saw five men, including the director, leading a live cow into a pit to bury it. He picked up his machete to stop them, but he was attacked. The director helped him back to his room and then finished the ritual. The next morning, the director said it was a special prayer for his late father, who gave him the land for the school. Bepo did not report it to the police, because he feared the cost and the danger. He quietly left Beesway and later joined Stardom.

Bepo also remembers Fruitful Future, the school he started with a friend. A parent, Mr Ogo, offered to perform a ritual of sprinkling corn grains to "bring in" more pupils, for ₦35,000. They refused, and he took his child away. The school later died when the roads in the area collapsed and families moved away.

About ten years later, Bepo saw Mr Ogo on the TV news. A woman had paid him ₦9 million for a cure for infertility. When she asked for her money back, Ogo and his gang buried her alive.

The lesson: there are no short cuts. Rituals and fraud end in disaster.

Chapter 8: Missions Unaccomplished

Before he leaves, Bepo wants to settle a three-year court case between two families in the school.

It started with the prefect elections. Stardom runs elections to teach democracy. Students buy forms (₦50,000 for Head Boy and Head Girl, ₦40,000 for deputies, ₦25,000 for other posts), and candidates must have good grades, good behaviour, and no unpaid fees.

On Speech Day, a student named Banky, who was running for Social Prefect, told students not to vote for "the son of an ex-convict". Everyone knew he meant his rival, Tosh. Tosh walked out and the election was suspended.

The two families had a long rivalry: the boys had competed since JSS3, their mothers had fought over a PTA election, and their fathers belong to opposing political parties. Tosh's father, Chief Didi Ogba, is not a convict. He was held in detention for 36 months during a trial over a ₦2.5 billion government contract, but he was released. He went to court against Banky's family. Bepo now pushes for a settlement out of court.

Bepo also worries about the Invention Club's "Breath Project", which makes phones from recycled parts. He is the club's patron, and he promises to fly back from London for its launch.

Chapter 9: Laughing Waterfalls

Bepo remembers the school excursions he fought for: one trip every term and an international trip every year. He believes students should know Nigeria well before they go abroad.

The students visited many places:

• Waterfalls: Ikogosi Warm Springs (Ekiti), Erin Ijesha (Osun), Gurara Falls (Niger State) and Owu Waterfalls (Kwara), which the book calls the highest waterfall in West Africa.
• Other sites: Yankari Game Reserve, the National War Museum in Umuahia, the hanging lake at Ado Awaye, the Ooni's palace in Ile-Ife, and Sungbo Eredo.
• Festivals: the Calabar Carnival, Osun Osogbo, Argungu and Ofala.
• Lagos: the National Theatre, the National Museum, the MUSON Centre and more.

When some students looked down on poor areas like Mushin, Ajegunle and Ijora, Bepo told them that talent, hard work and education can take anyone from the slum to success.

The trip that moved Bepo most was to Badagry. The king, the Akran of Badagry, told them the history of the town and confirmed that its name comes from "Agbadarigi". At the Black Heritage Museum, Bepo was deeply shaken by the story of the slave trade. He saw an irony: today, Africans rush willingly to work in the lands of their former masters. He calls "japa" a "new slavery".

Chapter 10: Passport Pains

Bepo's passport expired two years earlier, and he never renewed it because he did not want to leave. Now he must. The Lagos passport offices are crowded because of the "japa" rush, so he decides to go to Ibadan.

He uses an agent named Tai, who turns out to be a business centre operator working with some immigration staff, not an officer. Tai charges ₦100,000 for a 10-year, 64-page passport, although the official fee is ₦70,000.

Bepo travels to Ibadan by road. The newly rebuilt Lagos–Ibadan Expressway makes the trip about 50 minutes. Ibadan reminds him of J. P. Clark's poem "Ibadan".

At the office, an officer takes his documents and tells him to come back in three weeks to capture his data. Problems with his NIN (National Identification Number) cause more delay.

The chapter shows how hard and costly simple government services can be, and how even honest people get pulled into a system of agents and extra payments.

Chapter 11: Point of No Return

Stardom gives Bepo a grand three-day send-off, and he moves his flight back a week for it.

• Wednesday: a football match between staff and students. The games master, Mr Ibe, is a funny and unfair referee. The staff win 3–2.
• Thursday: a debate on whether the arts have done more for national development than the sciences. The arts side, led by Maryam, wins. Bepo is proud, and remembers a Yoruba proverb: even when the master carver retires, his carvings live on.
• Friday: the grand finale, with songs, comedy sketches copying Bepo's habits, and traditional dances, including Bata, Atilogwu, Koroso and the Canoe dance.

The Canoe dance reminds Bepo of a slave being struck at the Badagry slavery museum, and he shouts "Noooo!", stopping the show. He covers it up by praising the dancers.

The MD praises Bepo and tells how her late father, Chief David Aje, the school's founder, hired him. She presents him with a cheque for $10,000, the biggest gift Stardom has ever given a departing staff member. Bepo sobs through his farewell speech after 24 years.

Chapter 12: ...Dawn

It is Saturday, and Bepo's flight to London leaves at 10 p.m. He leaves home early to beat the Lagos traffic. His landlord, Mr Ogunwale, prays for him and drives him in his own car. The landlord's grandson Jide, whom Bepo has mentored, says he expects him back "next week".

Bepo packs mostly books and clothes, plus Nigerian foodstuffs Seri asked for: iru, egusi, crayfish and dry snail. He has sold his car to the accountant, Mr Jeremi Amos, and given his freezer and electronics to his landlady.

The Vice Principal, Mrs Grace Apeh, with Mr Oyelana and Mr Audu, sees him off at Murtala Muhammed Airport.

While waiting at the gate, Bepo dozes off and dreams he is at the slave museum in Badagry, watching slaves being beaten onto a ship at the Point of No Return. A white man orders him to board, and he screams "Nooo!" An airline official wakes him for boarding, and he flies out.

On Monday morning, the school assembly feels empty. The MD promises the students a new principal, and they murmur. Then the students see Bepo at the gate! They lift him up shoulder-high, chanting "Principoo!". He tells them he is back, because his heart and his mission are at Stardom. His words are drowned out by the school's victory song.

The book that began at dusk ends at dawn: a new beginning.

Main characters

• Mr Adebepo Adewale (Bepo): the main character. Principal of Stardom Schools for 24 years. Tall, fair, funny, kind and principled. Nicknamed "The Lekki Headmaster"; students call him "Principo". He leaves for the UK but comes back.
• Mrs Ibidun Gloss: the Managing Director (MD) of Stardom Schools. Strict and quick to sack teachers, but she respects Bepo. Daughter of the late founder, Chief David Aje.
• Seri: Bepo's wife, a nurse in the UK. She leads the push for him to relocate.
• Nike and Kike: Bepo's children, in the UK.
• Mr Audu: the Fine Arts teacher. Funny; he gave Bepo the nickname "The Lekki Headmaster".
• Mrs Grace Apeh: the Vice Principal.
• Mr Fafore: the English teacher wrongly sacked over "Ade as well as Jide comes early", then re-employed.
• Mr Jeremi Amos: the school accountant. He buys Bepo's car.
• Pastor Ope Wande: the Physics teacher who comforts Bepo.
• Mr Justus Anabel: the Chemistry teacher who ends the assembly.
• Mr Oyelana: a colleague who warns about the cost of living abroad.
• Mr Ayesoro ("Mr Owala"): the Government teacher with tribal marks, transferred to Stardom Hub.
• Mr Egi Meko: the director of Beesway, who buries a live cow in a ritual.
• Mr Ogo: a parent who offers a ritual and later becomes a murderer.
• Mrs Ignatius and Mr Ibe Ignatius: parents whose visa plans collapse after a DNA test about their daughter Favour.
• Mr Guta: the parent who gets Fafore sacked.
• Banky and Tosh: rival students in the prefect election. Tosh's father is Chief Didi Ogba.
• Tai: the passport agent in Ibadan.
• Mr Ogunwale: Bepo's landlord, who drives him to the airport. Jide is his grandson.
• Sola, Jare, Hope and Riike: Nigerians in the migration tales.

Themes and lessons

• Migration ("japa") and brain drain: why people leave, and how it does not always end well.
• Slavery and "new slavery": the Badagry visit links the old slave trade to today's rush abroad.
• Teaching as a calling: Bepo chooses service and purpose over money.
• Job insecurity and the power of rich parents: teachers in private schools can be sacked on a parent's word.
• Integrity against short cuts: Bepo refuses rituals; Mr Ogo's end shows where they lead.
• Corruption and red tape: agents and extra payments at the passport office.
• Knowing and loving your country: the excursions show Nigeria's beauty and history.
• Correct English: "Group of Schools" and "as well as" + singular verb.
• Hope and new beginnings: the story moves from "Dusk..." to "...Dawn".

Style: third-person narration close to Bepo, with many flashbacks, humour, Nigerian expressions ("japa", "Haba!") and proverbs.

Quick facts for JAMB

• Author: Kabir Alabi Garba.
• Number of chapters: 12. First: "Dusk...". Last: "...Dawn".
• Main character: Mr Adebepo Adewale (Bepo).
• School: Stardom Schools, Lekki, Lagos. Nursery/primary arm: Stardom Kiddies.
• Years at Stardom: 24.
• Who gave him the nickname "The Lekki Headmaster": Mr Audu (from the TV drama "Village Headmaster").
• Students call him: "Principo".
• MD: Mrs Ibidun Gloss. Founder: her late father, Chief David Aje.
• Vice Principal: Mrs Grace Apeh.
• Wife: Seri, a nurse in the UK. Children: Nike and Kike.
• Bepo's pay: about ₦400,000 a month. His UK job: about £3,600 a month.
• Student who spoke about Jos: Ikenna Egbu.
• Staff member who ran away with a ₦2 million loan: Mr Nku.
• Proverb of the sugarcane and the bitter leaf: from an Idoma neighbour.
• The DNA test showed Mr Ibe Ignatius was not Favour's father.
• Mr Ayesoro's nickname: "Mr Owala". He was moved to Stardom Hub.
• The cooperative had ₦95 million; the new loan limit is ₦250,000.
• Accountant: Mr Jeremi Amos.
• The correct sentence: "Ade as well as Jide comes early." The teacher: Mr Fafore. The parent: Mr Guta.
• Bepo's first school: Beesway Group of School. Director: Mr Egi Meko, who called Bepo "the Englisher".
• Bepo's failed school: Fruitful Future.
• Mr Ogo collected ₦9 million for a false infertility cure.
• Banky called Tosh "the son of an ex-convict". Tosh's father: Chief Didi Ogba.
• The Invention Club project: the Breath Project.
• Highest waterfall in West Africa (in the book): Owu Waterfalls, Kwara.
• Badagry's name comes from "Agbadarigi".
• Bepo's name for "japa": "new slavery".
• Passport agent: Tai, in Ibadan. Official fee: ₦70,000. Tai's fee: ₦100,000.
• Farewell football: staff won 3–2. Referee: Mr Ibe.
• Debate winner: the arts side, led by Maryam.
• Farewell gift: a $10,000 cheque.
• Who drove Bepo to the airport: his landlord, Mr Ogunwale.
• The ending: Bepo returns to Stardom on Monday.