Indications emerged last night that the Federal Government may have resolved to scrap some of its agencies in line with the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the Rationalization and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies following the completion of study of its White Paper Committee report. Among those scrapped are Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE), National Examination Council (NECO), Public Complaints Commission, National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and the Fiscal Mobilization and Allocation Commission among others.

The Oronsaye committee had recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, the merger of 52 and the reversion of 14 to departments in the ministries from which they were carved out, a move the committee argued would save the government more than N862 billion between 2012 and 2015 should its proposal be adopted. A reliable government source confirmed that President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and selected senior aides of the president met twice and eventually took decisions, which included the scrapping of some agencies and merging of others.

Another source revealed that the with the scrapping of the UTME, individual universities in the country would conduct their own admission examinations and admit students while the Joint Matriculation and Examination Board will set and ensure compliance to standards as it acts as the clearing house. The source said JAMB would be modeled along the line of Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS), the central organization through which applications are processed for entry to higher education in the United Kingdom.

According to the source, "individual university will do their own examination and admission. If you want to apply to a university, you do so but in order not to have a situation where one person gets multiple admission, JAMB acts as a clearing house to free up spaces. All the universities are free now to admit students." Even though details were still being worked out, it was learnt that government's decision, was informed by the need to promote merit in admission into the nation's universities because "the idea is to ensure that the best students go to the best universities."

The source further disclosed that the president had also approved that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) is now expected to take over the functions and vast infrastructure of NECO, which now ceases to exist. The sources confirmed that WAEC would now conduct two external examinations in a year, January and November. The Public Complaints Commission is to be merged with the Human Rights Commission, just as NAPEP would also be scrapped and replaced National Agency for Job Creation and Empowerment.

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http://m.naij.com/news/29680.html

well, its a good move, just dat d corruption in the universities will make it difficult for deserving candidates to get admission.,,,, and erm... What happens to those who registered to write jamb this year?? Or ...

Excellent!

JAMB for instance has done alot of damage to people's dreams & aspirations.
I'm quite sure a large percentage of JAMB candidates rely on 'cheats' & 'leaked answers'.. while those who struggled day & night studying end up with low & average scores..

What a joke! I heard there was a time a 40year old policeman scored the highest with a score above 320.

As if that was not enough, they introduced another garbage called Post UTME... in other to make students spend 10years seeking admission into the university, while their counterparts with cash graduates in foreign & private unis before the age of 20.

No wonder, Nigerian students especially those in the states, federal institutions and Nigerian lecturers see "education" as a do or die affair, almighty stress and all that funny imaginations.

This is the same reason they call private unis 'glorified secondary schools'

Admission ought not to be difficult the way we view it in Nigeria, unfortunately, Nigerian students have been brainwashed such that they enjoy and encourage the difficulty.

Good.we also need to reduce and merge some universities to solidify educational system in relation to quality of graduates that comes out of those institutions.