High number of candidates forces top universities to adopt very high cut-off marks, reports CHARLES ABAH, who witnessed a stakeholders’ protest at the University of Lagos on Wednesday
The President, Association of Tutorial School Owners of Nigeria, Mr. Sodunke Oludotun, looked agitated on Wednesday morning as he led hundreds of parents and candidates to storm the gate of the University of Lagos.
The expression on his face showed a man who carried a heavy burden on his shoulders. ‘Despondency’ and ‘dejection’ were two of the words that could aptly capture the way he felt.
Even with the cool breezy weather in Lagos on Wednesday morning, the ATSO helmsman still sweated profusely.
Dabbing his face with several handkerchiefs, he declared, “I wonder where this nation is heading for. How can one explain the fact that the Federal Government will make one pronouncement today and the next day, one of its agencies jettisons the directive? How can you explain that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, two weeks ago, rolled out the cut-off marks for the 2015/2016 admission, only for parents and candidates to face rejection in schools?”
Parents and UTME candidates protesting at UNILAG…on Wednesday.
Oludotun is not alone in the community of people who demonstrated this seeming hopelessness. Ekiti State-born Ifeoluwatayo Martins, who wants to study Law at the university, was in a similar dilemma. In fact, the youngster faced a bigger predicament. He could not comprehend how, having scored 233 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, he would not be allowed to sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG.
He lamented, “Uncle, I cannot understand this. Do you know that I visited a cybercafé more than 15 times yesterday (Tuesday) trying to download information from the UNILAG website on my post-UTME status, all to no avail? For the many occasions that I tried it, I could not access the portal. I tell you, it got to a level where I felt that the UNILAG admission link – admissions.unilag.edu.ng – looked like a fake one to me.”
Indeed, the story of Oludotun and Martins are a microcosm of the hopelessness witnessed at the gate of the 53-year-old citadel of learning on Wednesday morning. As early as 7am, many parents and children had converged on the gate of the university to protest against a policy, which they claimed would frustrate many candidates seeking admission to the nation’s universities this year.
According to them, the authorities of JAMB will use UNILAG as well as five other old generation universities to further exploit and frustrate candidates seeking university admission this year.
The other universities are Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; the University of Ibadan; the University of Benin; the University of Ilorin; and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Oludotun, who led the protest, particularly noted that of the more than 33,000 candidates that applied to study at UNILAG this year, only about 9,000 candidates had been shortlisted to sit for the post-UTME.
However, findings from JAMB’s 2015/2016 admission document showed that 62,473 candidates applied to the university this year.
Oludotun queried, “What is the fate of the remaining 24,000 candidates who applied to study in the university this year? Why has JAMB, all of a sudden, decided to change the directive it released barely two weeks ago? What we hear now is that if a candidate does not score up to 250 marks, s/he cannot sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG.
“I suspect something fishy. I have a feeling that the JAMB Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, wants to use this platform to satisfy the whims and caprices of his cohorts, especially those operating private universities in the country.
“You know many of these private universities are not getting enough candidates. So, he wants to force parents and their children to go to these universities. This cannot work. The board cannot force any candidate to attend any univers High number of candidates forces top universities to adopt very high cut-off marks, reports CHARLES ABAH, who witnessed a stakeholders’ protest at the University of Lagos on Wednesday
The President, Association of Tutorial School Owners of Nigeria, Mr. Sodunke Oludotun, looked agitated on Wednesday morning as he led hundreds of parents and candidates to storm the gate of the University of Lagos.
The expression on his face showed a man who carried a heavy burden on his shoulders. ‘Despondency’ and ‘dejection’ were two of the words that could aptly capture the way he felt.
Even with the cool breezy weather in Lagos on Wednesday morning, the ATSO helmsman still sweated profusely.
Dabbing his face with several handkerchiefs, he declared, “I wonder where this nation is heading for. How can one explain the fact that the Federal Government will make one pronouncement today and the next day, one of its agencies jettisons the directive? How can you explain that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, two weeks ago, rolled out the cut-off marks for the 2015/2016 admission, only for parents and candidates to face rejection in schools?”
Parents and UTME candidates protesting at UNILAG…on Wednesday.
Oludotun is not alone in the community of people who demonstrated this seeming hopelessness. Ekiti State-born Ifeoluwatayo Martins, who wants to study Law at the university, was in a similar dilemma. In fact, the youngster faced a bigger predicament. He could not comprehend how, having scored 233 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, he would not be allowed to sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG.
He lamented, “Uncle, I cannot understand this. Do you know that I visited a cybercafé more than 15 times yesterday (Tuesday) trying to download information from the UNILAG website on my post-UTME status, all to no avail? For the many occasions that I tried it, I could not access the portal. I tell you, it got to a level where I felt that the UNILAG admission link – admissions.unilag.edu.ng – looked like a fake one to me.”
Indeed, the story of Oludotun and Martins are a microcosm of the hopelessness witnessed at the gate of the 53-year-old citadel of learning on Wednesday morning. As early as 7am, many parents and children had converged on the gate of the university to protest against a policy, which they claimed would frustrate many candidates seeking admission to the nation’s universities this year.
According to them, the authorities of JAMB will use UNILAG as well as five other old generation universities to further exploit and frustrate candidates seeking university admission this year.
The other universities are Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; the University of Ibadan; the University of Benin; the University of Ilorin; and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Oludotun, who led the protest, particularly noted that of the more than 33,000 candidates that applied to study at UNILAG this year, only about 9,000 candidates had been shortlisted to sit for the post-UTME.
However, findings from JAMB’s 2015/2016 admission document showed that 62,473 candidates applied to the university this year.
Oludotun queried, “What is the fate of the remaining 24,000 candidates who applied to study in the university this year? Why has JAMB, all of a sudden, decided to change the directive it released barely two weeks ago? What we hear now is that if a candidate does not score up to 250 marks, s/he cannot sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG.
“I suspect something fishy. I have a feeling that the JAMB Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, wants to use this platform to satisfy the whims and caprices of his cohorts, especially those operating private universities in the country.
You know many of these private universities are not getting enough candidates. So, he wants to force parents and their children to go to these universities. This cannot work. The board cannot force any candidate to attend any university that he/she does not want. The issue of admission borders on choice and I believe, and strongly too, that individuals should be allowed to make their choices.”
In fact, the tone of the protest at UNILAG, which lasted for almost four hours, conveyed this sense of disillusionment. It also mirrored their “feeling” about the Ojerinde-led admission body. While many of the protesters sang anti-JAMB songs and lyrics, others displayed placards that painted the nation’s admission ombudsman as a man that has no feeling for candidates.
Some of the placards read, “Why is JAMB posting candidates from six federal universities to private universities without the candidates’ consent?” and “No PDP policy again, Buhari save us.”
Others include “UNILAG VC, save us from Dibu”, ‘’Wow! With 250, we cannot sit for post-UTME, incredible’’; “Dibu must go” and “Dibu, don’t toy with our destiny.”
But even as the protest and the songs of solidarity went on, some of the candidates who had surfed the Internet gathered adjacent the UNILAG gate bemoaning their fate. For instance, while Abigail Oluwadamilola and Edu-Uthman Adeniyi, who scored 203 and 204 respectively, were at a corner weeping and narrating the uncertainty that befell them, a parent, Mr. Idowu Adewale, drew the attention of our correspondent to other candidates who scored above 250 but could not access the UNILAG’s qualifying form.
In fact, Oluwadamilola applied to study Accountancy, while Adeniyi applied to study Insurance.
For Adewale, there is no justification for this arbitrariness. Questioning the rationale for upping the cut-off marks from 180 to 250, Adewale urged the Buhari-led administration to intervene urgently in the matter.
According to him, JAMB’s recent policies are not only destructive but also inimical to the growth of university education in the country.
Adewale alleged that his relations who visited UNILAG on Tuesday to download and print their “payment advice” could not do so, as JAMB reportedly did not forward their names to the university.
He added, “Many candidates could not print their payment advice from the bank to access the UNILAG post-UTME form. Without this form, they cannot do anything, as it empowers them to sit for the qualifying examination.
“Again, the implication is that such candidates will have to stay at home for another year due to no fault of theirs. We, therefore, demand equality in this matter. There is need to give all candidates equal playing ground to test their abilities. JAMB announced 150 cut-off marks for polytechnics and colleges of education and 180 for intending university candidates. Why change the goal post mid-way into the game?
“UNILAG needs to throw open the opportunity. Otherwise, no less than 24, 000 candidates will be unable to sit for this post-UTME in the university.”
Adewale, who also accused the examining body of making candidates to buy change of institutions form for N4, 500 two months ago, noted that parents and the leadership of ATSO were planning to drag JAMB to court.
Don’t blame UNILAG – Registrar
However, the UNILAG Registrar, Dr. Taiwo Ipaye, told our correspondent that the university should not be blamed for the development.
UNILAG VC, Prof. Rahamon Bello
According to her, JAMB determines the eligibility of post-UTME screening to the nation’s universities, including UNILAG, and so the university can only work with data from the body. Ipaye, who confirmed that many candidates applied to study in the university this year, noted that the examining body had forwarded the details of 9,000 candidates for the post-UTME exercise.
Beyond the registrar’s clarification, authorities of the university, in a statement on Wednesday, absolved themselves of blame.
Part of the statement entitled, ‘Important Notice on New Policy on Eligibility of Candidates for the 2015/2016 Admission Exercise’ read, “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board at its Combined Policy Meeting held on July 14, 2015 in Abuja, announced the adoption of a policy whereby candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Matriculation Examinations are reassigned to other universities with lower numbers of candidates than their capacities.
“According to the Registrar/CEO of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the policy portends two benefits: (1) It will be beneficial to ‘needy universities’, that is universities with lower numbers of candidates, than their capacities, as this will ensure that these universities will have more candidates to admit. (2) Candidates will have better chances for admission in the universities they are re-assigned to, contrary to situations where they would await admission in the universities of their first choices until the admission exercise closes and they forfeit admission in that session.
“This policy has been implemented with immediate effect. Consequently, the eligibility for post-UTME screening in the University of Lagos, like other universities in Nigeria, has been determined by JAMB. In effect, only candidates whose names were forwarded to the university by JAMB are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME screening.
“This means that only candidates whose details have been forwarded to the university by JAMB and published on admission.unilag.edu.ng are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME screening.
“Ineligible candidates would have been re-assigned by JAMB to other universities. Such candidates should contact JAMB for assistance.”
We can’t take 180 as cut-off mark – OAU
The Public Relations Officer of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, has said that the institution cannot adopt the JAMB’s cut-off mark of 180.
Olanrewaju told our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday that adopting the 180 peg would lower the standards that define the institution.
OAU VC, Prof. Bamitale Omole
Although he said the OAU had not decided the cut-off marks for the current admission process, he said 180 could only apply to institutions that were ‘looking for candidates.”
Olanrewaju said, “The OAU has a particular standard of excellence below which we cannot drop. We have to maintain that standard so that when they see our graduates anywhere, all the marks of excellence that define us will be there.”
While the PRO said that the university would determine its cut-off marks only after it would have conducted the post-UME, he explained that about 50,000 candidates applied for admission to OAU this year, out of which it would take 6,000.
Also, the JAMB 2015/2016 admission document indicated that 60,402 candidates applied to the university this year.
‘UI yet to decide’
Candidates who applied to the University of Ibadan will, however, have to wait for some time before they can know its cut-off marks.
According to the university’s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Tunji Oladejo, relevant authorities had not deliberated on the matter.
He, however, said that the average cut-off mark in the school was usually 200.
180 is the national benchmark – JAMB
Reacting to the allegations preferred against the body, the JAMB Head of Public Relations, Dr. Benjamin Fabian, said what the board did on July 14 was just to fix the national benchmark cut-off, which is 180 marks for universities.
According to him, agreed that universities are at liberty to fix their cut-off marks, none is to allow any candidate with a score below the national benchmark.
Prof. Dibu Ojerinde
Fabian, who also dismissed insinuations that the board was liaising with private universities to shore up their enrolment figure, denied the posting of candidates outside their places of origin.
He said, “By next week, the national distribution list for the candidates will be out and they will find out that we did not move candidates out of their zones. We are also focusing on private universities as well as state universities. We are just trying to ensure that as many candidates as possible are accommodated in the process. The true situation is that many high-flyer universities, such as UNILAG, ABU, and OAU, have many candidates, while some do not.”
Few candidates applied to private universities
Meanwhile, despite the stable academic calendar in private universities, they still do not fascinate the majority of the Nigerian students and their sponsors.
As recently reported by our correspondent, for the second year running, information from the same JAMB document shows that only about two per cent of candidates seeking university education in the country prefer private ivory towers.
In fact, findings show that of the 1.4 million candidates, less than 20, 000 candidates – representing two per cent – chose to study in the more than 60 private universities in the country.
In other words, 98 per cent others prefer the public universities.
Of the candidates seeking admission to private universities, the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, has the highest number of applicants with 3,042 candidates. Last year, the school belonging to the Living Faith Church, led by Bishop David Oyedepo, had 3,315 candidates.
The three oldest private universities – Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo; Madonna University, Okija and the Igbinedion University Okada – have 2, 101; 686 and 426 in that order. In 2014 UTME, the trio had 2,139, 1,021 and 658 applicants respectively.
The Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, owned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has only 173 candidates; while the American University of Nigeria, Yola, belonging to a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has 198 candidates.
With only five candidates, the Kwarafa University, Wukari, occupied the last position in getting patronage from potential candidates seeking admission to private universities in the country this year. The Obong University, Obong, Ntak, Akwa Ibom State and the Southwestern University, Okun-Owa, Ogun State, occupied this position in 2014. They had only four candidates seeking placement in each of the institutions.
Again, whereas Obong University, Ntak, has increased its profile by having 16 candidates this year, Southwestern University, Okun-Owa, upped its ranking by having two more candidates. The Wellspring University, Ogbaneki, Benin, Edo State, has seven candidates while each of Renaissance University, Ojiagu-Agbani, Enugu and Rhena University, Obeama, Rivers State, has eight and 10 candidates respectively.
With 107,491 candidates, the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, again topped the chart, dusting the nation’s premier university, the University of Ibadan, to a distant seventh position. UNILORIN also topped the slot in 2014.
The University of Benin, Edo State, is occupying the second position this year with 71,497 candidates; Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, Anambra State, is third with 70,609 candidates, while the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, is fourth with 66,791 candidates.
The University of Lagos has 62,473 candidates, placing it in the fifth position; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has 60,254 candidates to occupy the sixth position, while UI has 47, 501 candidates. The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, which had 60,402 applicants in 2014, attracted only 43,967 candidates this year.
The University of Maiduguri, which used to attract a high number of students before the invasion of the North East by Boko Haram, appealed to only 20, 322 candidates.
