EKSU VC Backs Scrapping of Post-UTME

Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti

The Vice-Chancellor,Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Samuel Bandele, has described the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (post-UTME) being organised by Nigerians universities as unnecessary duplication, saying that he supports the scrapping of the exercise.
The VC has also commenced the building of 20,000 hostels to make the university a fully residential institution to break the long standing tradition of ‘campus marriages’being practiced by some students and checkmate students’ restiveness.

Bandele said this in Ado Ekiti on Monday during a press conference heralding the 21st convocation of the university.

“The scrapping of post-UTME is a good one, but this cannot stop the universities from screening prospective students, because that has been the tradition even before the advent of JAMB.
“Let me say this, the JAMB allocated 10,000 students to EKSU for admission in 2016 and we can’t admit all of them. So, the university would have to deploy its own internal mechanism to be able to get the best out of them.

“We should not also forget that the university would have to screen to know those who have requisite qualifications and those with fake certificates. So, the issue extortion which some said accounted for the scrapping is not known to us here.”

Bandele said the institution had introduced summer school/make up test programme to facilitate graduation of its students.

The Professor of Educational Evaluation said the programme, which would enable students to re-sit for their failed courses during the semester break and as such assist them not to spend more than
necessary period for acquisition of their university degrees.

The vice-chancellor added that the move was in cognizance of the number of failed courses within an academic year which could hinder the progress of students.

The convocation ceremonies for first degree graduates will hold on June 24, while June 25 would be for postgraduate degrees. He said 24 among the 3,058 full-time students for the 2014/15 session bagged first class.

According to him, while degrees will be conferred on 689 postgraduate students, 392 sandwich students, 10,613 affiliates colleges students and 3,937 part-time programme students would also graduate on the occasion.