The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) Warns Varsities Over Post Utme

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned that any attempt to scrap the post-Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) screening examinations being conducted by universities across the country would drag the education sector backward.

Cross section of Muslims at a book launch in abuja, recently.

MURIC, in a message signed by its director, Dr Is-haq Akintola,  stated that the universities were keen on getting the best students into their institutions and therefore urged the National Assembly to listen to the universities. The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), the body said, was already over-pampered and over-bloated.
"It has outlived both its relevance and usefulness. The staff in JAMB bears no sense of belonging to any university. They have nothing at stake so they can stomach corruption in the system.
"In view of the fact that education is the indispensable launch-pad for economic growth, sound health and technological breakthrough of any nation, we, as a people, cannot afford to ignore the need for quality control as an essential roadmap to qualitative education," the group said.
The body noted that initially, JAMB was solely responsible for the conduct of entrance examinations into Nigerian universities, a role it played effectively.
"But unhealthy developments soon crept in as allegations of massive fraud were made regarding JAMB’s activities. Candidates' marks were allegedly swapped. Students who were known to be brilliant got low marks while average and dull students received scandalously high marks. Allegations of JAMB officials selling marks were rife. Thugs and riff-raffs found their ways into the universities so long as they (or their parents) had the money to throw around.
"The fallout of this embarrassing situation was the poor performance of students in the university. It led to idleness, absenteeism and cultism among students. Undergraduates could not write simple letters.
"Their spoken English became the poorest in the West-African sub-region. The standard of education fell to an all time low and stakeholders were quick to finger JAMB as the main culprit. It was discovered that admission was being offered by JAMB to candidates who did not merit it in any way.
As a corollary to this, graduates of Nigerian universities could no longer perform the duties expected of them.

AS CULLED FROM http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/islamic-news/31072-muric-warns-against-scrapping-of-post-utme

Education Commissioner in Delta Faults Post Utme Debates

Prof. Patrick Muobaghare, Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner in Delta, has advised the Senate to drop the post-University Matriculating Examination debate, describing it as meddling in the universities’ internal affairs.
Muobaghare told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Wednesday that the post-UME exercise was a step taken by the universities within their legal limitations.
He said that conducting entrance examinations was one of the areas where the institutions had autonomy to operate as desired.
The commissioner said that rather than dissipate energy on the issue, the Senate should concentrate on legislating for good governance in the country.
“The universities are autonomous and have powers to decide on certain issues, which include conducting entrance examinations to admit students for programmes.
“The Senate should not dwell on such trivial issues that do not concern it. The lawmakers there should concern themselves with making laws for good governance and for welfare of Nigerians.
“They should tackle the fuel subsidy issue, on the side of their constituents, tackle Islamic Banking and other pressing issues.”
Muobaghare wondered why the upper chamber of the National Assembly had not taken up issue of adequate funding of universities and other matters.
He said that one of such matters was the Federal Government’s refusal to implement its agreement with Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The commissioner challenged the legislators on the falling standard of education and allied issues in the sector, which ASUU and stakeholders had been highlighting.
He also urged the lawmakers to support ASUU in its quest for improved standards in the universities.
Muobaghare said, “If they cannot support the union on the quality agitation, they should leave the institutions alone.
“Too many issues affecting the lives of common Nigerians need the urgent attention of the lawmakers and those are what the people want to see them do.”

JAMB or Post-UME Should Go

The Senate recently mandated its committee on education to investigate the conduct of post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across the nation's universities. The lawmakers declared the subjection of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) candidates to another round of tests by schools as illegal.

Criticisms have trailed the post-UTME since its introduction in 2006 by the then minister of education, Mrs Chinwe Nora Obaji. Though some parents, candidates and JAMB kicked against its implementation, the minister insisted when she was summoned by the National Assembly that post-UTME became necessary due to the questionable integrity of the JAMB-conducted UTME. With the strong support thrown behind the screening by university vice-chancellors, post-UTME was integrated into the university matriculation system.

Indeed, there is merit in the argument that gave birth to post-UTME screening. JAMB's matriculation examination had become inadequate for validating the credentials possessed by candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions. Cases abound where high-flying candidates in UTME ended up on probation after their first year in the university. Some offered lucrative courses such as Medicine, Law, Pharmac, Engineering and Economics, based on their JAMB scores, were even advised to withdraw from such institutions as a result of poor academic performance.

JAMB examination had lost its watertight competence at conducting a credible entrance examination as candidates freely cheated, used mercenaries or fraudulently bought JAMB result, most times with the help of the board's officials. Post-UTME thus became an indictment on JAMB.

Riding on their quest for autonomy, vice-chancellors have criticised both the Senate and JAMB for moving to scrap the screening policy. They argue that the screening has not only helped in the selection of candidates to fill in the quota allocated to each institution but also in picking the best. This has led to an increase in the quality of graduates produced by our tertiary institutions since the inception of post-UTME.

However, the post-UME screening conducted by universities has not proved overly successful against admission irregularities. More than before, parents now easily collaborate with lecturers, admission officers and principal officers to manipulate admission processes in favour of their children.


It seems that post-UTME merely shifted the perpetrators and beneficiaries of admission irregularities from JAMB to the universities. Also, universities have flouted the procedures for collecting the N1,000 registration fee approved for the screening. Each university advertises its screening date and directly charges candidates exorbitant registration fees (varying from N3,000 to N20,000, depending on how competitive such institution is) without passing through JAMB. Thus, admission still largely depends more on affordability than merit.

We do not subscribe to minister of education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa'i's antidote of "standardising" post-UTME examinations so that candidates could use the screening result of a university for admission into another. Such uniformity is a duplication of JAMB's responsibility. Universities should either conduct matriculation screening under the supervision of JAMB or the board should do so with improved credibility.