The Federal
Government, in
consultation with the
Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board, has
pegged the cutoff
marks for 2014
admissions into
universities at 180,
while polytechnics and
colleges of education
were put at 150,
respectively.
The cutoff points were
arrived at on Tuesday,
after the 5th Combined
Policy meeting on
admissions to tertiary
institutions, held at the
National Universities
Commission, Abuja.
The Supervising Minister
of Education, Nyesom
Wike, who declared the
meeting open, frowned
on the inability of most
tertiary institutions to
utilise their admission
quota.
Wike, however, said in
view of efforts to
boost access,
institutions which failed
to utilise their
admission quota for
2014 would be
sanctioned.
He reiterated the
Federal Government’s
commitment to the
development of ICT
training, which he said,
had already been
inculcated into the
standard curriculum at
the secondary school
level.
He said, “I have been
briefed that despite the
rising demand for higher
education vis-a-vis the
availability of a large
number of qualified
candidates, some
institutions did not fully
utilise the admissions
quota approved for
them by relevant
regulatory agencies in
2013.
“This disservice to the
Nigerian child is totally
unacceptable. In line
with efforts of the
Federal Government to
improve access, let me
urge you all to with
effect from today,
work assiduously to
ensure that all
admission spaces in
your institutions for the
current year are fully
utilised within the
approved time frame.”
The Registrar and Chief
Executive of JAMB, Prof.
Dibu Ojerinde, in his
presentation gave a
statistical run down of
candidates’ preference
for tertiary education.
He said after the
conduct of the 2014
Unified Tertiary
Matriculation
Examination, candidates
who applied for degree
awarding institutions
totalled 1,584,348,
representing 70 per
cent; National
Certificate in Education
applicants totalled
25,767 representing 1.6
per cent; National
Diploma, a paltry
22,072, representing 1.3
per cent while National
Innovation Diploma had
just 46, representing
0.003 per cent.
Ojerinde wondered why
Nigeria’s educational
system has
consistently failed to
embrace technical
education in its quest
for industrialisation,
noting that the British
system which Nigeria
copied now award
degree in all its
polytechnics.

the 180 cut off marks, is it also accepted for candidate going into the faculty of med/surgery?