Senate Orders JAMB To Extend Result Validity To Three Years
The Senate, yesterday, instructed the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to
begin to extend the validity of its results to a
period of three years,instead of one year.
The Senate, on Tuesday, November 16 directed
the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board,
JAMB, to extend the validity of its results from
the period of one year to three years.
This directive came after the Upper Chamber
ordered the board to immediately stop its policy
of re-assigning candidates to schools they never
applied to, saying such policy was contrary to the
act establishing the board.
To this end, results obtained from the board by
candidates seeking admission into universities are
expected to last for three years.
The Senate, which order came following a motion
entitled: “JAMB’s New Admission Policy”,
sponsored by Senator Joshua Lidani, APC, Gombe
South, which was debated during plenary, also
urged JAMB to consult widely with Parents
Teachers Association, ASUU and all other
stakeholders in the education sector with a view
to coming out with a friendlier holistic,
comprehensive and sustainable admissions policy.
It also directed its Committee on Education to
enquire into circumstances surrounding the JAMB
policy, including all allegations of favouritism and
generally review the power of JAMB vis-a-vis
administration and submit findings within one
week.
Earlier, in his motion, Senator Lidani frowned at
the JAMB’s policy of posting candidates to
schools, including private universities whose fees,
he noted, were beyond the means of the
candidates’ parents or guardians, saying in some
cases, candidate were posted to universities
located far away from their places of abode thus
placing additional financial burden on their
parents.
Lidani expressed worry that although the Federal
Ministry of Education had since suspended the
implementation of this policy, JAMB was still
going ahead with its implementation, thus
creating more hardship for parents and
uncertainty in the education sector.
He said he was concerned given that the policy
runs contrary to the letters and spirit of Section
5(1)(C) iii of the JAMB Act, which according to
him, requires that JAMB should take into account
preferences of the candidates in their choices of
schools and the subsequent confusion surrounding
the directive that only candidates whose names
were forwarded to the university by JAMB were
eligible for post-UTME screening and others would
have to go back to JAMB website to find out their
new institutions.
