2016 Admissions Won’t be Done Arbitrarily, Jamb Insists

Paul Obi in Abuja

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) friday said admissions into all tertiary education institutions for the 2016 academic Year would not be carried out arbitrarily.

JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede stated this in Abuja during the Extra Ordinary Technical committee Meeting on 2016 Admissions.

Prof. Oloyede disclosed that the meeting was for the placement of suitably qualified candidates into tertiary institutions called on tertiary institutions to follow due process in the Admission Processes.

“We will not accept whatever is done arbitrarily .I hope those that are here will make adjustment they must be able to explain why somebody with high score was not given admissions.

“What we are saying is that people should follow due process, universities have the right to have criteria for admission but the criteria must be reasonable, the criteria must be explicit”, he explained.

Oloyede stressed that the board would not initiate or insert any candidates but will ensure that no candidate was unjustly treated by any institutions.

“I therefore restate my earlier submission that the Senate and academic boards of the institutions have the primary responsibility of recommending candidates to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for admissions”, he insisted.

Oloyede added that the only difference between the 2016 admissions process and what had always been the practice, was the policy that there should be no written post UTME test.

The JAMB registrar maintained that the first batch of the 2016 admissions would be out before third week of September.

“What we said was that some of the recommendations the institutions brought earlier were not explicit in terms of criteria, and we have asked our colleagues in the universities to send better criteria.

“I have a particular school where the person who score the highest was not taken and the reason was because the university changed it rules. That will not be accepted.

“You cannot change the rules when the game is on. You have to wait till 2017 to publish the new rules you cannot have a particular rule and change to another”, he insisted.

The Registrar reiterated that Jamb would work with all stakeholders to smoothen all processes.

“Where things are not done properly we will not be only doing what is right but we will be seen by reasonable people that we have done what is right, Oloyede pointed out.

Speaking on carrying capacities of schools, Oloyede explained that the issue remained a national problem, citing instances where institutions admitted students over shooting their capacities.

“I think it’s a national problem where people over-shoot their carrying capacity that will certainly be against the rules and it will affect quality of students. Only few institutions are admitting below carrying capacity due to certain issues.

“What we have said is that if they are qualified candidates in your list and I don’t know why they are not being admitted”, he wondered

Meanwhile, the federal government yesterday released the 2016/2017 admission into Federal Government Academy, Suleja.

Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu approved the release of the admission list of successful candidates, stating that, “a total of 147 students have been admitted, out of the 2,250 candidates who sat for the examination.

“The list has been released in the college and also posted on the Federal Ministry of Education website. Candidates who took part in the Federal Government’s Academy entrance examination should check their names on that site as well as in Room 607 in the Department of Basic and Secondary Education.

“The resumption date for the new students of the Academy is 8th October, 2016”.

Further, Adamu commended the management of the Academy for the impressive performance it has recorded in the past 26 years.

According to officials, the school “established on 25th May, 1990, it has maintained an average record performance of 92 per cent in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations.”