Emmauel
Another season for admission of candidates seeking placements into tertiary institutions, particularly universities, has come, with the uncertainty, frustration, disappointment, anxiety inherent.

Over 1.4 million candidates sat for the 2012 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which is the primary entrance examination into all the institutions of higher learning in the country – universities, polytechnics (or colleges of technology) and colleges of education.

But most of the candidates preferred admission into universities which are about 123, owned by federal, state and private individuals and religious organisations.

After the initial UTME, the next stage of the admission process is the Post-UTME screening test conducted by individual institutions according to their respective stipulations, mode of test/interview, examination and the required scores for the different academic programmes and courses. This test has become an integral part and most crucial in the admission process into Nigerian universities.

No matter the score obtained in UTME which should however not be less than 180, candidates must still undergo the screening test.

JAMB Registrar and chief Executive, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde had noted quite recently the way some universities conduct their Post-JAMB or UTME test, saying he was disappointed.

“One thing not pleasing to me is the way some universities conduct their tests. It has become a source of money to them, instead of a source of standardising the procedures, but not all of them.”

He gave a typical example of a university that needed just 500 students, but called 105,000 for the test in which each candidate was charged N3,000 which translated to N300 million. “Now you’ve raised the hope of 105,000 candidates and you dashed the hope of at least 104,500 candidates. It looks disgusting,” Ojerinde said in a newspaper interview sometime ago.

Beyond this unfortunate revenue generating aspect of the test, there other travails, some fatal, that trailed the exercise.

Mrs. Chinwe Dike, a Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja, with her son, Chike, that she was taking to sit for the Post-UTME test for admission into Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, died in the Dana Flight from Abuja to Lagos which crashed in Iju-Ishage on 3rd June, Sunday.

Other admission seekers are believed to have died either on that flight or in road accidents while going to sit for Post-UTME tests in some other universities which are yet to be ascertained. So many candidates chasing very few spaces in some preferred universities are frustrating to prospective students. Only a very small proportion of candidates who sat for UTME will likely be admitted. This year alone, over 1.4 million did the entrance examination in which the bulk of them want to enter the university system that can only admit barely 20% of this number.

Preferred universities of first choice like University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Benin, Benin City, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, cannot even offer admission to between 5 – 10% of qualified candidates because of inadequate carrying capacity. For example, over 90,000 candidates chose University of Lagos, but  only less than 4,000 can be admitted. That is the predicament of young men and women seeking university admission.

Meanwhile, places in polytechnics and colleges of education are usually under-subscribed because most of the candidates want to go to the university. Also there are several universities that are not attracting patronage and are advertising everywhere for students to come for admission. Therefore, it’s a question of choice, and ability of parents to pay the fees which are seen as prohibitive.

Most private universities charged between N700,000 and N1 million per session which the average Nigerian parents cannot afford. Even some state-owned universities have hiked their fees beyond the reach of many parents. Only the federal government-owned universities are charging reasonable fees, hence the massive rush to those institutions.

Now that the Post-UTME tests are going on till October, some private universities charged N5,000, others N7,000 to sit for the test, even when candidates did not choose them in the first place.

Recently, the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) announced it had barred 262 institutions of higher learning from admitting students in the 2013 academic session over non-compliance with admission guidelines.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ojerinde had explained the guidelines as 70:30 technology/non-technology ratio for National Diploma programmes and 60:40 Science/Arts for Universities and colleges of education.

He also asked the tertiary institutions to follow strictly the government guidelines on 45% merit, 35% catchment and 20% educationally less developed in offering admission to candidates.

Ojerinde, speaking at the third combined policy committee meeting on admission to degree programmes for 2012/2013, warned that JAMB expected every university to include in the admission print-out, the criteria used in admitting the candidates and that all admissions must come to an end by October 31st, 2012.

Another unfortunate aspect of the Post-UTME test is the leakage of the question paper during the exercise at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, leading to the cancellation of the test midway by the management of the institution.

It was reported that candidates for admission into the Faculties of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences had written the test late into the night previous to the last Monday, while those for Social Sciences were to write on the following day.

But the candidates got a rude shock when a directive came from the office of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Batho Okolo, that they should leave the hall as the test had been suspended. There was leakage. But for the quick response of the security operatives, the candidates who were angry threatened a show down, as they lamented the indefinite postponement of the test.

An angry candidate was reported as saying: “Why should such a thing (leakage) be allowed to happen in a university like this?” An unidentified staff of the university was alleged to have leaked the question papers to some students.

From the Kwara State University, Ilorin, came the unconfirmed report that candidates complained the late start of the Post-UTME test which went into the night. After the exercise, many candidates experienced difficulty in getting back to their respective places.

When contacted for his reaction, the Vice-Chancellor, asked Saturday Vanguard to come down for a proper interview so as the clarify the true position of things in respect of what really happened.