Scrap JAMB,UTME, retain NECO

News that Nigerian government is planning to cancel two of its major examinations-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the National Examination Council is welcoming on one hand and calls for caution on the other.

Welcoming, because if implemented, it will curb the excesses of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board which has held candidates seeking university education by the jugular for a long time.

For years, JAMB has been the only authorised body conducting examination into the nation’s universities and polytechnics.

Every year, at least 1.5million candidates patronise JAMB and of this figure, less than 250,000 eventually secure admission. Yet, each of the 1.5 million candidates pays an average of N5, 000 [about $34] to buy a form.

Aside this, candidates are expected to pay all kinds of sundry charges including buying scratch cards for checking their results and scratch cards for printing their admission letters.

Yet, the exam process was at a stage so compromised that universities lost confidence in it and pushed for a post UTME, a move which though JAMB vigorously rejected, went through all the same.

Of course, this is also at an extra cost to candidates who have to buy forms from the respective universities of their choice and still pay for the Post UTME exam. So you find candidates going through tortuous processes to secure admission to either a university or polytechnic.

These are some of the reasons why plans to cancel UTME and leave universities to select their candidates on their own is a welcome development. However, I have reservations about the fact that JAMB as a body would still be in charge of clearing candidates for universities.  That seems to me that JAMB will still be milking its candidates dry but through other means.

According to reports, under the new arrangement, authorities of all tertiary institutions will now be at liberty to conduct their entrance examinations as they have been doing for post-UTME. JAMB will however serve as a clearing house.  Though JAMB will no longer conduct examinations, it will still be setting the standard alongside the schools authorities.

JAMB will be a clearing house like Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in UK. If somebody gains admission into three universities and hold down space, immediately such person picks his first choice, JAMB’s system will automatically free the remaining two slots for other applicants.

I think government should scrap JAMB outright and allow candidates to apply to the universities directly. A few things are likely to happen if this is done.

One, each university is likely to put in place a process that will ensure it attracts the best of brains since universities will be rated by the quality of their products. Two, the current multiple costs of securing university admission will be scrapped and third, the torture candidates are forced to endure in a bid to compete for a limited space in available institutions will be lessened.

As for NECO, I think scrapping the body is taking us back to the old system where the West African Examination Council was the sole exam body in the country.  It is a known fact that monopoly stifles competition. Rather than encourage monopoly, government should create a conducive environment for competitive examination bodies and allow students to make a choice. Government should think of making NECO work better than scrapping it.

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University autonomy versus JAMB control

Prof. Ruquayat Rufa'i - Minister of Education

What’s the point in conducting post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by universities all over Nigeria particularly private ones when candidates’ good performance in that exam does not really guarantee anything?  After all, what universities do with post UTME results is subject to the dictates of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

Why do universities make both parents and admission seekers go through unnecessary hardship when they know that JAMB has the final say on who is admitted to the university at the end of the day?

Parents and guardians of admission seekers spend extra money every year on air and road travels in their bid to take their children and wards to venues of their post UTME. Apart from the huge costs involved, some die in accidents.  Some parents and children were reportedly some of the victims of the last plane crash in the country.

This year again parents came from as far as Abuja to Lagos, Iwo and other parts of the country accompanying   their children who were writing their post UTME.

I can recall some of the reasons adduced for post UTME by universities a few years back. One of them is to ensure that universities admit quality students.  According to them, candidates offered admission by JAMB often ended up being below standard. The idea was to be able to sift candidates selected by JAMB to ensure they are up to standard,

While universities’ decision to sift their candidates might not be a bad idea, the universities were silent on what happens when they adjudge candidates to be good for admission and JAMB thinks otherwise. This has remained the crux of the matter.

As a mother whose daughter sought university admission this year, I had cause to take my child to different universities for her post-UTME.  At that time JAMB had not released its cut-off mark for university admission. The question parents kept on asking university authorities at the parents’ forums was what happened if their children did well in the university exams and failed to meet JAMB’s cut off mark. The universities had no answer.

It turned out that many candidates did well in the post UTME but scored below JAMB’s cut-off mark. For instance, Babcock University asked candidates whose names appeared on its admission list but failed to meet JAMB’s requirement not to bother paying the university’s acceptance fee.

If JAMB is still this relevant, why subject admission seekers to unnecessary stress?  Why does JAMB have to wait for weeks before releasing its cut-off marks?  If JAMB could release UTME results within one week of writing the exam, why should it wait for another six weeks before declaring its cut-off marks? Why allow parents to spend thousands of Naira to obtain admission forms to private universities or pay for different post-UTMEs, wasting money on needless trips before releasing the cut-off marks?

Though I don’t really subscribe to fixing a cut-off for admission, fixing 180 for university admission would have been okay by me if there are no question marks on either the integrity of JAMB as an exam body or on UTME as a whole.  There were reports of cheatings and other forms of exam malpractices in this exam which unfortunately cannot just be swept aside.

Whether JAMB likes it or not, the ministry of education would still have to work something out to resolve the issue of admission into Nigeria’s universities. With public universities over-stretched and multitudes of admission seekers out there, government needs to take a more pragmatic measure to solve the gigantic problem in the education sector.  Every year over one million people seek admission to higher institutions in Nigeria. The figure keeps increasing every year. But the entire system could only absorb 500,000 according to the minister of education, Prof. Ruqayyat Rufai.  A country in a situation like this needs to work on maximising its capacity to absorb as many students as possible.

But that is not happening now.  The situation now is that some universities, especially private universities, have spaces that are yet to be filled.   There are candidates that meet such universities’ admission criteria, but universities’ hands are tied by government regulation.

Let’s face it, while public universities usually have more than enough candidates to admit, thus always exceeding their carrying capacity, private universities will continue to have spaces because it costs money to study there.  Tuition in private universities range from N650, 000 to N2m per session depending on the course of study.  A large number of Nigerians cannot afford this.

Instead of piling up the list of admission seekers every year, I think government should allow those that can afford private university education and who are qualified by these universities’ standard to proceed to the university.  This will not only decongest the list of admission seekers, it will also reduce   capital flight.

There was a report that Nigerians spend N160bn annually in two Ghanaian universities.  Ironically, Ghana and other  countries admit the same candidates that are rejected in Nigeria because of unnecessary government regulations.  Universities in other parts of the world won’t need JAMB’s permission to admit candidates.  Instead of allowing parents to keep on taking their money out of the country to receive sometimes half-baked education, government could review its law.

Right now, some parents are in agony. For some of them, their children scored between 170 and 179. They have the money to pay in private universities and would have loved their children to remain in Nigeria for at least their first degree programmes, but they are being denied of that chance. This shouldn’t be.

After all, the autonomy of Nigerian universities   is claimed to be backed by law. If that is the case, institutions should be able to establish their own programmes of study recruit their own students and have some levels of control.   True autonomy connotes organisations having the freedom or freewill to set their own rules and regulations without interference and control from outside especially from government.

Agreed universities   must operate under the law of the land because autonomy doesn’t just give the right to do anything at any point in time, universities should still have the freedom to set and maintain their own academic standards just like the foreign universities do.

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Don't worry about your JAMB/POST-UTME score anymore - secure admission into 200l with IJMB- Click here to know more

Ijmb Admission To 200 Level Into University (unilorin And Over15 Other Uni

Application is currently on

Annually, more than 1 million students do write UTME (JAMB) with the aspiration of securing admission into their desired institution but unfortunately it is just a fraction that ultimately realise this dream. Infact some have written JAMB more than once or more and it looks seemingly impossible to gain admission because of various reason which could include: centre issues, mass failure, POST UTME failure e.t.c
But here is a golden opportunity for ADMISSION SEEKERS who wish to acquire university degree that IJMBE (INTERIM JOINT MATRICULATION BOARD EXAMINATION) A LEVEL provides a unique platform for realising your dream of university education-even more better than JAMB because it aids in securing admission into 200 level upon completion of the programme.You do not need JAMB to be admitted for this programme.
The programme is certified by NUC (Nigeria University Commission) CHECK PAGE 4 OF JAMB BROCHURE, ITEM 2.2(2) TO CONFIRM IJMB AS A REQUIREMENT FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION. Its more economical to go for this programme because it will save you the cost and stress of 100 level as you will be admitted directly into 200 level upon completion of the programme . Even students with deficiency in O level can still register for the programme because preparations have been made for them by IJMB where they can write O LEVEL IJMB to augment their result. Students with awaiting results can also register

REGISTRATION

Registration for IJMB program can be processed in the two ways stated below:
1.Purchasing the form at our center in Illorin for a (Non-refundable) fee of N10,000.00
2.Filling the form online (which will be hand-filled by our staffs for final submission). This online form is for students that stay far from Illorin. The form is also N10,000.00 with a processing fee of N3,000.00 which must be paid before filling the form.

FUTOCOMMUNITY can help you buy and process your form just Follow the procedures below.
*.Pay the form fee (N15,000) into our bank account,(call for bank details.)
*.Send your payment details (Payee Name, Date of payment, Bank, Teller No.) to 08100003084 or forward to futocommunity@nokiamail.com
*.A confirmation code will be sent to you after your payment has been confirmed. Then you can proceed to the form page to fill the registration form

Ijmb is 9months and predegree is 9months too and the cost of both program is the same but Ijmb is better off, because after the program the student will gain admission into 200 level while after pre degree the student will start from 100 level, so Ijmb is better and faster...
The following are the University which accepts IJMB results for direct entry (200L) admission.
1, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN
2, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,ZARIA.
3, DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY,ABRAKA.
4,RIVERS STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY.
5,UNIVERSITY OF UYO,UYO.
6,CROSS RIVER STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY.
7, UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR
8, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA
9, UNIVERSITY OF JOS
10, BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY .
11,ALL UNIVERSITIES IN NORTHERN,NORTH CENTRAL AND MIDDLE BELT IN NIGERIA.
12, ALL PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA.
............ETC..............
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REGISTER FOR ADMISSION INTO 200 LEVEL NEXT SESSION.

Registration Form Note:The extra N2,000.00 is for logistics and processing of the form on your behalf. And all fees are Non-refundable.
2348100003084

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