Senate Orders JAMB To Extend Result Validity To Three Years

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.