The Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, on
Monday, again directed the nation’s tertiary
institutions to stop the conduct of post-Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

“Those who have already advertised for the conduct
of the post-UTME under any guise should stop the
exercise immediately as any university caught
conducting it will face appropriate sanctions.

“If any tertiary institution has conducted the post-
UTME, such an exercise stands annulled and money
taken from candidates must be returned
immediately,” Adamu said in a statement.

The minister, who made this known through the Deputy
Director (Press and Public Relations) in the ministry,
Mr. Ben Bem Goong, also directed the National
Universities Commission and appropriate departments
in the ministry to “communicate this directive to
relevant agencies and institutions to ensure strict
compliance.”

The minister has also summoned all vice-chancellors
and rectors to an emergency meeting over the post-
UTME, findings by our correspondents have revealed.
The meeting, it was learnt, would hold tomorrow in
Abuja.

Adamu, while declaring open a Combined Policy
Meeting on admission to universities, polytechnics and
other higher institutions, three weeks ago in Abuja,
scrapped the post-UTME.

But findings by our correspondents revealed that
many institutions have defied the minister’s directive
with some already initiating fresh modalities for the
2016/2017 post-UTME.

For instance, the authorities of the Michael Okpara
University of Agriculture, Umudike, have not only
conducted the exercise tagged “MOUAU 2016
Admissions Intelligence Quotient Screening”, the
outcome of the exercise is already on the university’s
website. The university conducted the IQ screening
between July 20 and 21.

At the University of Benin, where the two-week
exercise kicked off on Monday (yesterday), at its
Ugbowo campus, candidates registered for the
screening with N2,000.

According its Head of Public Relations, Mr. Michael
Osasuyi, the university will continue with the exercise
until it receives a formal directive from the Federal
Ministry of Education not to conduct the screening.
“We are doing our admission screening. The minister
did not say that we should stop the screening.”

Osasuyi added that the post-UTME was necessary to
select candidates from the thousands jostling for less
than 10,000 spaces in the institution.

For Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, which has fixed
its screening to start from July 4, its Public Relations
Officer, Mr. Chris Adamaigbo, declined comments on
why the institution opted for the exercise despite the
minister’s directive.

Adamaigbo only directed one of our correspondents to
check the institution’s website for answers.
“Please, check our website and you will get the answer
to your question,” he said.

At the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, candidates
for the screening, which holds between July 5 and 20,
registered for it with N2,000.

At the Lagos State University, Ojo, the authorities
demanded N5,000 registering fee for the screening.
The registration that started on June 9 ended on June
24.

For the Kwara State University, Malete, one of our
correspondents gathered that the institution had
concluded the post-UTME for the forthcoming
academic session with the candidates paying N3,500.
The authorities of the University of Jos said they had
yet to get a clear directive on the issue from the
ministry.

The UNIJOS Assistant Registrar, Publications and
Protocol, Mr. Abdullahi Abdullahi, said the university
had not received any official communication to enable
it to decide on the new admission procedure.

But for the authorities of the University of Calabar
and the Cross River University of Technology, they
would wait for the outcome of the meeting with the
minister before announcing their position on the
process.

The Public Relations Officer of UNICAL, Mr. Effiong
Eyo, said on Monday, “Tomorrow (Tuesday) all the
vice-chancellors in the country will be meeting with the
minister. It is only after that meeting that we will
comment on the post-UTME.”

Also, the Registrar of CRUTECH, Mr. Gabriel Beshel,
said the institution would wait for the outcome of the
meeting before taking a position on the issue.

While the UNIUYO Director of Information, Dr. Godfrey
Essien, said he would not comment on the issue, the
Registrar, College of Education, Afaha Nsit, Akwa
Ibom State, Mr. Idorenyin Uko, said the institution
had suspended the exercise in line with the Federal
Government’s directive.

Meanwhile, the minister, who said the responsibility
for admission to tertiary institutions lied with JAMB,
insisted that “under no circumstance should anybody
or institution take over that responsibility by proxy.”
He added, “For the avoidance of doubt, any
educational institution after secondary education is
regarded as a tertiary institution. Therefore, all
tertiary institutions, polytechnics, colleges of
education, universities or by whatever name it is called
after secondary education must be subjected to
admission through the JAMB.

“At the end of probationary admission by JAMB, the
candidates can be cleared (screened) for final
admission. For any institution with a shortfall in
admission, such institution can revert to JAMB for
supplementary admission. Clearing in this case
(screening) entails only the verification of certificates
of the candidates, JAMB scores, and any other
physical examination to ensure that such candidates
are not cultists.

“After this, the candidates are qualified for
matriculation. Such screening should be at no cost to
the parents or students and should be done upon
resumption in order to avoid unnecessary travels in
search of admission.”

In a related development, the Vice-Chancellor,
University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Ondo State, Prof.
Friday Okonofua, has faulted the scrapping of the
post-UTME.

The don said the development might create a greater
crisis instead of solving the “perceived problems” in
the education sector.

Okonofua, who stated this while briefing journalists on
the planned inauguration of Friends of UNIMED Fund
in Ondo, said the government did not make enough
consultations before taking the decision.

Source: PUNCH Newspaper

k

We shall be waiting patiently to observe how the thing goes

ohk