3rd August, 2015
The needless crisis precipitated by the controversial cut-off mark imposed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on candidates seeking admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions has again exposed the irrelevance into which JAMB has sunk.
In what appears to be pandering to the demand of private universities which are finding it difficult to attract candidattes for admission due to the outrageous fees they charge, JAMB decided to tinker with its policy of allowing candidates choose universities of they like. The examination body did this through the backdoor by allowing some federal universities increase their cut-off mark to as high as 250 so that candidates that don’t meet up would be compelled to seek admission in private universities with the 180 cut-off mark JAMB earlier recommended.
This is a clear violation of the candidates’ right. The candidates were allowed to select universities of their choice while filling the JAMB form, so why impose private universities on them? This sudden policy summersault was greeted by protest at the University of Lagos by candidates and their parents recently.
It is clear that JAMB is doing the bidding of private universities which are finding it difficult to pay staff salaries owing to the dwindling number of candidates seeking admission into those universities. The reason the majority of candidates shun private universities is obvious: most parents cannot afford the huge fees private universities charge. Only the rich send their children there. While tens of thousands of candidates seek admission into federal universities every year because the fees are affordable, only a handful of the candidates look in the direction of private universities.
JAMB lost its relevance when univervities expressed disappointment over the quality of candidates JAMB sent to the universities for admission and began to conduct their own post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test to pick eligible candidates. Although observers view the test conducted by universities as another avenue to fleece the candidates through the sale of forms, we believe universities should be allowed to take full charge of conducting examination for the candidates as was the case before JAMB was established in the late 70s. Before the advent of JAMB, universities conducted admission examinations and candidates had ample opportunity to write as many examinations as they wanted and eventually picked the universities of their choice.
How relevant is JAMB if universities have to conduct post-UTME test to select candidates for admission? We believe JAMB has outlived its usefulness and should be scrapped. Universities know the minimum standards required of the candidates they admit and should be allowed to fully take over the conduct of examination for intending candidates.