The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) yesterday abolished the general cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions and allowed the institutions freedom to set their individual minimum benchmark for admission.
The decision was taken at the 2021 policy meeting, which was held virtually and chaired by the minister of education, Mr. Adamu Adamu.
The stakeholders also approved October 29, 2021 as deadline for the closure of amendments for 2021 admissions.
Speaking during the meeting, the registrar of JAMB, Prof Is-haq Oloyede said some universities such as University of Maiduguri proposed 150; Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, 140; Pan Atlantic University, 210; University of Lagos, 200; Lagos State University, 190; Covenant University 190, and Bayero University Kano, 180.
Oloyede also disclosed that for 2021/2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the board would introduce two new subjects: computer studies and physical and health education, bringing to a total of 25 subjects.
He said if candidates have not accepted an offer, the institution could change the candidate after informing JAMB.
At the policy meeting, the stakeholders resolved to allow the federal ministry of education to decide on the deadline for closure of 2022 admissions as they could not agree on the December 31, 2021 deadline for all public institutions and January 31, 2022 for all private institutions.
Oloyede warned the institutions not to go beyond the N2,000 pegged as Post-UTME fee.
“Nobody should charge more than N2,000. The total gross is N2,000. It is not allowed by institutions to allow candidates to procure administrative charges.
“No institution is allowed to capture or demand any result upload. It is the one that we upload on caps that we will send to all of you. The biometrics supplied by JAMB should be used for the exercise,” he said.
The stakeholders also adopted the 2021 admission guidelines, which provide that all applications for part time or full time programmes for degree, NCE, OND, and others must be posted only through JAMB.
The meeting approved that for direct entry, the maximum score a candidate can present is 6 and the minimum is 2 or E, as required by law.
Speaking on other admission criteria, Oloyede the candidate’s credentials must be uploaded on CAPS and recommended by the institution JAMB approves and the candidate accepts the offer of admission.
Also approved at the policy were the guidelines that every institution is at liberty to admit candidates based on its own minimum score approved by the institution and the policy meeting.
The meeting further resolved that every institution should maintain its own minimum score as approved by the policy meeting.
According to the stakeholders, the 2021 admissions will be conducted only through CAPS while no institution is allowed to admit candidates without uploading their details on CAPS.
The stakeholders also exempted prison inmates, visually impaired and foreign candidates from sitting for post UTME exercise.
Speaking on the 2020 admissions, the registrar said out of the 956,809 admission spaces in the 962 higher education institutions in the country about 600,000 have so far been admitted.
He said there are many admission spaces that have not been filled up in several courses due to lack of qualified candidates. Oloyede said private universities in the country were only able to admit 36,381 candidates out of the 120,938 spaces available to them.
In his remarks, Adamu commended JAMB for introducing use of the National Identification Number (NIN), in the registration process for UTME.
Represented by the permanent secretary, federal ministry of education, Mr. Sonny Echono, the minister said the use of NIN drastically reduced examination malpractices in the 2021 exam, adding that the West African Examination Council, WAEC, will also follow a similar path by adopting mandatory use of NIN.
“I am enthused that the last examination recorded the lowest cases of examination irregularities in the history of the Board because those who would normally have exploited the weak links through biometrics infractions had been effectively checked with the introduction of NIN by JAMB.
“It is gratifying that the WAEC has decided to follow the path of using NIN to curb examination malpractices. The ministry is presently considering other ways of using the NIN to uncover some other admission irregularities and all perpetrators including their collaborators in the institutions would be made to face the consequences,” he said.
On illegal admissions being conducted by some tertiary institutions, the minister expressed concerns that the government’s directive that all admissions should be done through JAMB’s central admissions processing system (CAPS, is being violated.
He directed JAMB to furnish the government with the list of affected institutions for necessary punishments.
“It is saddening that despite the clear directives at previous policy meetings some institutions still illegally admitted candidates outside CAPS. I consider such an act as a direct affront on the system and appropriate sanctions shall be applied on those found to have been in such a disruptive act.
“Similarly, any institution that issued admission letters to candidates outside CAPS will be punished for such gross indiscipline and fraud.
“The consequence of admissions conducted outside of CAPS is grievous. It subjects the candidates to a gloomy future as the nemesis of illegal admission awaits them at the completion of study.”
