Senate to Probe Admission Racketeering in Tertiary Institutions

•To partner NDLEA to fight drug abuse, trafficking

Michael Olugbode and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate yesterday, set up a panel to investigate allegations of admission racketeering in tertiary institutions across the country.

This was sequel to a motion by Senator Onyeka Nwebonyi (Ebonyi North) at plenary.

Nwebonyi, had alleged that staff of tertiary institutions conspired with officials of Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) to carry out the unwholesome practices for financial gains.

JAMB is a statutory body charged with conducting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for admission to all Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other tertiary institutions.

The Senate therefore directed its committees on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND as well as Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to probe the allegation of admission fraud in tertiary institutions.

Nwebonyi, said authorities of tertiary institutions, in cahoots with some JAMB officials, have reverted to the practice of provisional admissions into prized professional courses like medicine and surgery, pharmacy, law, engineering, nursing science, with view to shortchanging some students already offered admission in exchange for gratification.

He said, “The travails of one Miss Chinyere Ekwe and 290 others who were admitted to study medicine and surgery at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) but had their admissions truncated on the order of JAMB for no plausible reason, after they had completed the admission processes and resumed lectures.

“Miss Ekwe, in particular, scored 291 in the 2019 UTME and 300 in the university’s post UTME, which qualified her for the course and was subsequently admitted by the university.

“The said Chinyere Ekwe was transferred to the department of medical laboratory science on the ground that if her cumulative grade point is up to 4.5 points after the first year, she would be transferred back to medicine and surgery.

“However, despite the fact that she surpassed the 4.5 threshold, her admission status is still not yet certain as to whether she is duly admitted in the department of medicine and surgery or medical laboratory science.

“The provisional admission practice is being used as a malicious tool to exploit and frustrate intelligent young Nigerians who are children and wards of ordinary people who seek admission into Nigerian universities.”

Such unwholesome practices, he added, put the country’s educational system in jeopardy, cause apathy on the side of ordinary Nigerians.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in his remarks, stressed the need to give fair hearing to the accused parties, saying JAMB and UNN were known to be reputable institutions.

He said, “We are shaving the head of a man behind his back. The university of Nigeria has a reputation that spans decade and respected internationally. And JAMB has its own reputation.

“So discussing and particularising it could tend to give the international community that something is questionable about the certificate from university of Nigeria which we all respect. It has given birth to so many universities including the one I went to which is the university of Calabar.

“Let the other side be heard, so that we can do a holistic job and even invite the Minister of Education to find out whether this kind of practice is occuring in the tertiary institutions. So let us do a holistic job. I think it is important we correct any wrong that we see.”

Also yesterday, the Upper Chamber expressed willingness to partner and support the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in the task of ridding Nigeria of drug menace.

The Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics while commending the leadership of NDLEA for its unrelenting war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking, said it was prepared and committed to partner and support the agency to succeed in its onerous task of ridding Nigeria of the drug menace.

The assurance was given after the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) briefed the Committee on the activities, challenges and achievements of the agency in the last 34 months at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.

Marwa, during the briefing, said the global supply and demand of illicit drugs, including opioids and synthetic drugs had exacerbated the world drug problem, with devastating impact on people and their well-being across borders and continents.

He said: “Families, communities, young people and old men and women and indeed the very fabric of our society is daily being destroyed by drug abuse.” He added that the scourge was at the basis of the security challenges facing not only Nigeria, “but other nations and as such, no effort must be spared in addressing the problem.”

Speaking on some of its achievements in the areas of drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction, Marwa said: “The agency re-ignited its intelligence-based enforcement capabilities, focusing on drug barons and cartels, with a view to cutting off supplies and taking illicit drugs away from our streets.

“This is yielding positive results with the arrest of 36,096 drug traffickers, among them 40 barons, between January 2021 and September 2023.

“The agency has recorded seizures of 6,668 tons of drugs, worth over N635 billion. About 957.319 hectares of cannabis farms have been destroyed across 12 states within the period under review, while we successfully prosecuted and got convictions in 6,043 cases.

“Presently, there are 11,166 pending cases in Federal High Court across the country and between January 2021 and September 2023, over 27,432 drug-dependent individuals have been counselled and discharged from our counselling and treatment facilities across the country.”

He highlighted some of the challenges facing the agency to include: inadequate funding, dearth of standard rehabilitation centres, lack of operational boats and vehicles, forensic laboratories and poor salary structure for personnel among others.

Marwa, said the modest achievements recorded by the agency in the past months couldn’t have been possible without the backing of the executive, the judiciary and the legislature.

“We are hopeful that we will get even more impactful support from the 10th Senate. We look forward to your assistance in taking care of some Gordian knots that can only be solved by legislative means,” he added.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo said: “I want to assure you that the newly inaugurated members of the committee are fully committed to working with the NDLEA.

“All the members have assured that they would contribute and do their best in working to eradicate the use of illicit drugs and narcotics in Nigeria. We will consider the possibility of having an emergency summit on drugs because of the seriousness of the issue.”

Also speaking, Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Osita Ngwu said: “We are so glad that the NDLEA is working and we are seeing the results. Over 6000 tons of drugs confiscated is not a joke. I use this medium to encourage you, and whatever support you need from our end, we will give.

“We are all passionate about reducing drug demand, if we don’t deal with it now, it will destroy us.

“Whatever support we can give we will provide for you to continue this fight, so that we can take drugs off our streets and make our youth useful.”