17/09/2017
Nigeria’s tertiary education system is in a
shambles – in terms of infrastructure,
funding and academics – as it remains
largely crisis-ridden for years. The recent
reintroduction of the post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination, the latest cut-
off marks imbroglio and alleged back-door
admission policy of higher institutions
reveal the ugly underbelly of the nation’s
floundering education system, reports
Head, Education Desk, Iyabo Lawal
In Nigeria’s tertiary education, it never
rains but it pours. ‘JAMB reinstates post-
UTME’; ‘ASUU begins indefinite strike’;
‘JAMB reduces cut-off marks, varsities
kick’; and ‘New cut-off marks to favour
private varsities’, so the headlines have
been screaming in the last couple of
days.
There is a conundrum of claims and
counterclaims; an example is the issue
of the cut-off marks for the 2017/2018
session.
Everyone is angry with Prof. Ishaq
Oloyede and the organisation he
superintends over – the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board
(JAMB). Not a few vice chancellors of
public universities have spoken up
against the JAMB registrar and in the
midst of the counterclaims and charges;
nobody seems to be listening to the
exam body, which has struggled over
the years to remain relevant in its
chequered history.
But left for the universities, a requiem
would have been conducted on JAMB –
as there is no love lost between JAMB
and the institutions, especially when it
comes to admission. Perhaps, it is time
the Federal Government reconsidered
the usefulness of the exam body, which
in most recent times has been accused
of formulating policies skewed in favour
of private higher institutions.
With private universities, as claimed,
more likely to accept admission seekers
with low cut-off marks, public higher
institutions seem determined to up their
ante. There was also an allegation that
JAMB’s latest policy on cut-off marks
was designed to favour the North. With
the current social-security issues in the
North, fewer admission seekers are
heading in that direction; that may
sooner or later asphyxiate the continued
sustainability of the universities and
polytechnic in that region. Will JAMB’s
lowered cut-off marks be enough
incentives for parents to allow their
children to head to the north for higher
education in the face of daunting
security challenges? Only time will tell,
as many youths get frustrated with their
inability to get admitted into the
universities of their choice in the South.
There is obvious politics in the latest
policy of the exam body, some analysts
have claimed. They believe that no
matter how hard it tries to shake off the
various allegations levelled against it,
JAMB will remain the whipping boy in
terms of admission issues into tertiary
institutions.
The recent volte-face of the vice
chancellors is an ominous signpost that
universities are succeeding in having
their way while allowing JAMB to have
its say, the exam board pressed between
a rock and a hard place.
In 2016, at a Policy Meeting on
Admissions, the Minister of Education,
Adamu Adamu, scrapped the Post-
UTME, arguing that such exercise was
not only unnecessary but placed heavy
burden on students and their parents –
that did not go down well with the
universities that felt JAMB and the
education ministry were being too
meddlesome in their admission process.
At the 2017 meeting, however, Adamu
reversed the ban, asserting that the
nation’s tertiary institutions should be
independent in terms of the admission
process.
On August 22, it was agreed that the
tertiary institutions determine their
admission process and that cut-off
marks should be fixed by each school’s
senate, not JAMB.
At that meeting, all the1,200
representatives of the various tertiary
institutions agreed to the new cut-off
marks regime which many vice
chancellors and the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) have
kicked against as they described it as
“sad policy decision,” and that it was in
tandem “with the dream of the present
government to destroy public
universities in the country.”
Universities are admitting students
illegally and many of these ones did not
write the UTME, JAMB insists.
“Today, we are where we are because
many are afraid to say the truth. All
heads of tertiary institutions were
requested to submit their cut-off
benchmark to the board, which will
then be used for the admission.
“We are now starting the monitoring of
adherence to admissions guidelines –
cut-off marks inclusive. The cut-off
marks being branded by the public
were never strictly followed by most
institutions as most of them were going
behind to admit candidates with far less
with others admitting candidates who
never sat for JAMB,” a statement issued
recently by JAMB said.
ASUU did not find that statement
complimentary. “Where are those that
JAMB registrar said entered universities
illegally? Which universities admitted
them? If 30 per cent did not take JAMB
and found their way into the university
system is that not corruption and a
message that JAMB is not significant
anymore? What sanction did those who
did the illegal admission receive other
than regularisation of illegality? We are
watching because long before now we
have said that JAMB has outlived its
usefulness. Let the universities set their
unique standards and those who are
qualified can come in.
“Even in those days, 40 per cent was
graded as fail. But now JAMB said with
F9, which is scoring 30 per cent, you
can be admitted. They deliberately want
to destroy education. Even for
polytechnics 100 marks is 25 per cent. It
is sad. And that is where we are in
Nigeria. They want to destroy public
education at all cost. This is not setting
standard for education in Nigeria. It is
purely lowering standards and digging
the grave for the future. This is why
ASUU is currently on the struggle to
influence the government to do the
needful for education in Nigeria,”
Chairman ASUU, University of Ibadan,
Dr Deji Omole, said.
The history of Nigeria’s Ministry of
Education, JAMB and that of the ASUU is
a chequered one – there is largely no
love lost between the two entities (the
ministry and JAMB on one side and
ASUU on the other side). The current
stand-off between the education
ministry (including JAMB) and ASUU is
a reflection of their crisis-ridden
relationship.
Last year, the union had staged a
protest condemning the decision of the
ministry to scrap post-UTME. Precisely
June 2016, Adamu, at a combined policy
meeting on admissions to higher
institutions banned the examination.
That year, the lecturers breathed fire
and brimstone, warning the Federal
Government that the ministry of
education’s scrapping of the
examination portended a serious
danger for the quality of education in
the country.
In the heat of that development, the
union also pointed out that the decision
undermined the autonomy and powers
of universities’ senates as the highest
policy-making body on academic
matters, particularly admission of
students and award of degrees.
ASUU was even more livid because the
education minister did not consult the
union on the matter. “The cancellation
of post-UTME to us portends a serious
danger for the quality of education in
this country. The argument of the
federal government on the policy
is unacceptable and potentially harmful
to the future of the nation’s education
system.
“We call on the government to rescind
its decision and convene genuine
stakeholders‘ meeting on the issue
before making any policy statement,”
the ASUU President, Prof. Biodun
Ogunyemi, had said.
By August this year, that hotly contested
decision was reversed. At the combined
policy meeting with stakeholders where
the controversial issue of new cut-off
mark was arrived at, government lifted
the ban on the conduct of examinations
usually organised by universities for
admission seekers after the UTME.
Making this known in Abuja that
universities, polytechnics and other
institutions are free to organise post-
UTME screening as a pre-condition to
gaining admission into public
institutions, the education minister
disclosed that the Federal Government
scrapped the controversial examination
in order to fully understand what is
going on in the institutions.
Adamu, in making the announcement,
also noted that his ministry has become
wiser regarding the conduct of the post-
UTME. He, however, urged the
institutions and its authorities to make
the fees for the post-UTME screening
affordable in order not to impose huge
financial burden on parents and
students who fend for themselves.
“We are going to allow universities to
have some choice. Universities can now
decide to organise post-UTME, if they
want. We have asked them not to
impose huge financial burden on the
parents. The burden should not be more
than what they can bear,” the minister
stated in a conciliatory tone even
though he reiterated his confidence in
the examination conducted by the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board
(JAMB).
The current decision is a volte-face to
what the education minister promised
to do after the initial scrapping of the
exam – Adamu promised that machinery
that would bring the post-UTME to its
logical end would soon be set up.
The minister had felt that it was
unnecessary for individual institutions
to conduct a separate examination to
guarantee admissions, when JAMB
already performs such functions.
Not everyone had agreed with the initial
decision to scrap the exam – while some
stakeholders appeared to support the
ministry’s action, scrapping the post-
UTME because of inherent abuses,
others had censured the Federal
Government for taking a decision that
would make it easy for a number of
unsuitable admission seekers to gain
admission into the universities and
similar institutions.
To them, the post-UTME was vital to
ensure that unqualified candidates did
not slip into higher institutions of
learning. However, the post-UTME
turned out, according to some education
experts, to become a money-making
venture for universities.
Before his removal, the then JAMB
Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, had
argued that the post-UTME should stop
following the introduction of the
Computer Based Test (CBT) examination
mode. It was thought that the CBT would
eliminate examination malpractices.
That must have inspired the minister’s
infamous announcement cancelling the
post-UTME.
The exam had its issues, ranging from
extortion to corruption; some people felt
that it was an overkill to subject
admission seekers to two different
examinations with the aim of gaining
admission into just one institution.
Those in support of the scrapping
argued that apart from financial burden
of an extra exam to be passed by the
prospective students, the time and
efforts involved could be excruciating at
times.
For instance, a university that has the
capacity to admit just 4,000 new intakes
has been accused of collecting post-
UTME fee from about 100,000 admission
seekers.
They, thus, advised the Federal Ministry
of Education and the tertiary
institutions to devise other means of
assessing the successful admission
seekers instead of focusing on written
tests.
No doubt, it will appear that the Federal
Government decided to change its
policy that outlawed the post-UTME
because it is making concerted efforts to
placate ASUU, which is currently having
an upper hand over it in the ongoing
strike by the union.
So far, there is silence from the side of
parents and would-be students of
tertiary institutions.
In this article:
Adamu Adamu ASUU Strike
Biodun Ogunyemi JAMB post- UTME
