Senate Urges JAMB To Extend Validity Of Results To 3 Years

Senate Urges JAMB To Extend Validity Of Results To 3 Years

The Senate, yesterday, directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to begin to extend the validity of its results to a period of three years.

This was even as it ordered the board to
immediately stop its policy of re-assigning candidates to schools they never applied to, saying such policy was contrary to the act establishing the board.

To this end, results obtained from the
board by candidates seeking admission
into universities are expected to last for
three years.

The red chamber, which order came
following a motion entitled: ”JAMB’s
New Admission Policy, “ sponsored by
Senator Joshua Lidani, APC, Gombe
South, which was debated during plenary, also urged JAMB to consult widely with Parents Teachers Association, ASUU and all other stakeholders in the education sector
with a view to coming out with a friendlier holistic, comprehensive and sustainable admissions policy.

It also directed its Committee on Education to inquire into circumstances surrounding the JAMB policy, including all allegations of
favouritism and generally review the power of JAMB vis-a-vis administration and submit findings within one week.

Earlier, in his motion, Senator Lidani
frowned at the JAMB’s policy of posting
candidates to schools, including private
universities whose fees, he noted, were
beyond the means of the candidates’ parents or guardians, saying in some cases, candidate were posted to universities located far away from their places of abode thus placing additional financial burden on their parents.

Lidani expressed worry that although the Federal Ministry of Education had since suspended the implementation of this policy, JAMB was still going ahead with its implementation, thus creating more hardship for parents and uncertainty in the education sector.

He said he was concerned given that the policy runs contrary to the letters and spirit of Section 5(1)(C) iii of the JAMB Act, which according to him, requires that JAMB should take into account preferences of the candidates in their choices of schools and the subsequent confusion surrounding the
directive that only candidates whose names were forwarded to the university by JAMB were eligible for post-UTME screening and others would have to go back to JAMB website to find out their new institutions.

Senator Lidani expressed concern that
since the policy was announced, the
board was faced with series of massive
protests by parents and candidates of and some organizations like the Association of Tutorial School Operators of Nigeria as well as other numerous stakeholders.

He said JAMB, at its 2015 Combined Policy Meeting, held on July 14, 2015, in Abuja, announced the adoption of a policy whereby candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME, were reassigned to other universities with lower number of candidates than their capacities.
While noting that JAMB was a board created by an Act of the National Assembly in 1989 to administer a centralized admission for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.

He further noted that by Section 5(1)
(C) iii of the JAMB Act 2004, the function of the board, among other things, was the general control of the conduct of the matriculation examinations for admission into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education and also include the
placement of suitable qualified candidates in the tertiary institutions having taken into account, the preferences expressed or otherwise indicated by candidates for certain
tertiary institutions and courses.

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