JAMB makes a U-turn, withdraws candidates’ lists sent to varsities

 

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has withdrawn the list of recommended candidates for admission it earlier sent to universities and other tertiary institutions.

The announcement was contained in a statement by the spokesperson for JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday in Abuja.

According to him, the decision was to ensure that universities perform their statutory responsibility of selecting candidates and referring them to JAMB for confirmation.

This, JAMB stated, should be done in consonance with the admission criteria of merit, catchment area and educationally disadvantaged states as directed by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, during the policy committee meeting.

Benjamin said the earlier list was sent to help fast-track the process of admission so as to allow other tiers of tertiary institutions conduct their admission for the 2016/2017 academic session.

“Candidates should not panic because this is part of the process of the 2016 admission exercise. JAMB regrets any inconvenience this decision would have caused the tertiary institutions,” he stated.

The Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, had while given admission conditions for the 2016/2017 academic session, said  it would only give approval “after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions had been done.”

He added, “JAMB wishes to state that the latest list of candidates sent to all the tertiary institutions contains candidates who qualified for screening based on the individual institutions’ capacity. It’s not in any way an admission list.

“However, if this list is not sufficient for the need of any institution, such institution can source from the omnibus printout earlier sent to them by the board.

“The public and all tertiary institutions should note that admission will only be approved by the board after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions.

“The list which is made up of candidates who met the national cut-off point within the set criteria are sent to the institutions. Again, for purposes of clarity, all institutions that have need for more can source from their omnibus printout as stated above. The candid intention of the board is to ensure that available spaces are adequately utilised.”

Our correspondent reports that the Federal Government had clarified its ban on Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the general admission procedures, saying it “does not in any way affect the statutory role of the senate of any university or the academic board of any tertiary institution conducting its admissions.”

Adamu had made the clarification in a statement by the Deputy Director (Press and Public Relations) in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Ben. Bem-Goong.

He said the clarification became necessary “following conflicting reports in the media over the roles of universities and JAMB in admission under the new dispensation.”According to him, the role of JAMB is to conduct the UTME, compile the list of candidates whose scores meet the cut-off marks (180 and above) and send same to the universities.