The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says candidates seeking direct entry admission into any Nigerian university are now to sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Board in a statement issued by its Head, Public Affairs and Protocol Unit,Mr Fabian Benjamin made the announcement on Thursday.
He said, henceforth,direct entry candidates would sit the exam just as the candidates applying for first year do.
According to him, the development is part of measures to check” abuses in the Direct Entry Admission processes”
The latest development is a sharp contrast to what obtained in the past as only candidates without diploma or other requirement for direct entry, were made to sit the UTME to gain admission into the universities. Candidates having requirements for direct entry admission were only requested to register without being made to sit the examinations
The statement reads:
“Another major policy change also to be implemented by the Board to holistically address all loopholes giving rise to abuses in the Direct Entry admission processes is that all DE candidates, which comprise those seeking to be in Year Two in the universities, would henceforth be required to sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME along with other candidates for them to justify the possession of their A’ level certificates.
“This policy is to be situated within the ambit of the Board’s relentless efforts aimed at enhancing the growth of the nation’s education sector as it would promote transparency, accountability, and good governance. It also underscores the Board’s commitment and determination towards changing the negative narrative of A’ level admissions into higher institutions in Nigeria.
The Board also announced a fresh remittance of N2 billion into the federal government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), adding that it remitted N55 billion been to the government within the last six years of its current leadership of Prof. Is-haq Oloyede
“On assumption of office of the current Registrar, he had come up with a policy which holds that whatever would be done, must be on the table. This has changed the narratives such that JAMB now posts humongous returns to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). These returns were bolstered by the Board’s expanded internal capacities for its operations achieved through direct execution of its processes and procedures, which instantly resulted in, for instance, a savings of N1.2billion being paid annually to a service provider and a downward review of (the) N1.2billion being annually paid to another to about N400 million with the same old service provider. This is in addition to the recovery of over N1.2 billion in both cash and estates in choice areas of Abuja, in 2016.
“It was these steps and many others, which had ensured that a Board, which had remitted cumulatively in its 40 years of existence about N55 million to the national treasury, rendered N7.8 billion in the first year of the assumption of office of Prof. Oloyede and has since contributed over N27 billion directly into the national treasury.
“The remitted amount is without prejudice to the 30 per cent reduction in its application fee (N10.8 billion in 4 years since the reduction), Capital Fund (N11 billion including N6 billion, which is yet to be committed), Annual Awards/Grants to Tertiary Institutions for Capital Projects (N1 billion) and Special Staff Welfare Scheme (N2billion). This would aggregate the cumulative surplus to about N54 billion over the last six years.”
