The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and heads of tertiary education institutions in the country have pegged the minimum cut-off mark for admissions in the 2022/2023 academic session.
The minimum cut-off mark for universities is 140 while that of polytechnics and colleges of education, respectively, were pegged at 100.
These were announced at the ongoing Policy Meeting on Admissionspresided by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, at the International Conference Centre in Abuja,yesterday.
JAMB’s Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the cut-off after a thorough debates and votes by vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education, said the implication was that “every institution has the right to fix its own cut-off mark even up to 220 but no one would be allowed to go less than the agreed minimum marks of 100 for colleges of education, 100 for polytechnics and 140 for universities.”
The meeting also called for the review of admission criteria to give 10per cent discretional power of admission to heads of tertiary institutions.
JAM also said that only 378,639 of the 1,761,338 candidates of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scored 200 and above.
Oloyede said 378,639 candidates scored above 200; while 520,596 scored 190 and above.
He added that 704,991 candidates scored 180 and above; 934,103 scored 170 and above; while 1,192,057 scored 160 and above.
The JAMB boss further revealed that an Ekiti indigene, Adebayo Eyimofe, scored the highest mark in the 2022 UTME.
Oloyede said Eyimofe, who wrote his examination in Abuja, scored 362 marks.
According to the JAMB registrar, Eyinmofe was followed by an indigene of Enugu State, UgwuChikelu, with 359 marks.
Other high scorers include Igbalaye Ebunoluwa 357; Emmanuel Oluwanifemi 357; Ozumba Samuel 357; Olumide-Attah Ayomide 355; Lawal Olaoluwa 355; Dokun Jubril 354; Amaku Anthony 354; and Aghulor Divine 353.
Oloyede added that JAMB allowed candidates with awaiting results to register for the 2022 UTME.
“These candidates can’t be considered for admission on awaiting result status. They must present their O’ Level results on the board’s portal before the commencement of admissions,” he said.
In his remarks, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has so far remitted about N29billion directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Adamu said the board had also granted over N1billion to tertiary institutions, and expended more than N2billion on capital projects.
Adamu added that the board had reserved N6billion for its future expansion and as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
He said that the board also provided social services such as funding the freighting and delivery of donated critical hospital equipment to 12 teaching hospitals at the cost of $257,000 and ¦ 47million.
According to him,the board has continued to serve as a model for public agencies in vision, devotion, transparency and efficiency, yielding enormous goodwill to the government and people of Nigeria.
He pleaded with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other trade unions in the tertiary education sub-sector to call off the on-going strike and embrace genuine dialogue as solution.
“I urge the leadership of tertiary institutions to partner with the Federal Government in its frantic efforts at restoring industrial harmony into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“It is clear that stable academic calendar is required for quality education and development in Nigeria.
“I also seize this opportunity to appeal to the trade unions in the tertiary education sub-sector to, in the interest of the future of Nigeria, call off the strike and embrace genuine dialogue as solution to our problems,” he said.
The minister further charged institutions to comply with the policy directives as decided at the meeting, saying that any infringement of any of the policy guidelines would be meted with appropriate sanctions.
Meanwhile, a Bill seeking to make Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) result valid for four years has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
The Amendment of the JAMB Act was sponsored by Rep. Tolulope Sadipe (APC-Oyo), at the plenary, yesterday.
Leading the debate, Sadipe said many students sit for JAMB examination, come up with good grades, but for one reason or the other, they ended up not being offered admission, for no fault of theirs.
She said these students and their parents were made to bear the financial burden to sit for the examination the next year.
According to her, the excuses that JAMB allegedly keeps bringing up, in that regard, was that it was revenue generation for them.
“When you look at the number of students that apply for university admissions every year and the number that eventually gets in, it is definitely not their fault, so, why should they be penalised?
“Everywhere in the world, there is no such exams that is valid for one year; Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is valid forever.
“Most universities across the world value such exams for at least five years, but here in Nigeria, JAMB is valid for just one entry, and if you do not get it, you repeat it.
“I think this is totally unfair, there are a lot of children in this country, whose parents are struggling to put them through school.
However, while contributing to the debate, Rep. Nkem Abonta (PDP-Abia), argued that extending the validity of JAMB result would defeat the aim of the entry exams.
He said that JAMB Act, sought to regulate the mode of entry into Nigerians universities, saying that making the result valid for two to three years would cause more problems.
Abonta said the relevant committee should look at the proposed amendment critically, so as not to compound the problem, in an attempt to solve it.
Rep. Chinyere Igwe (PDP-Rivers), argued that there was a difference between an entry examination and a terminal examination.
He said, “JAMB is an entry examination, with the purpose of securing admission into a university, polytechnic or colleges of education, with a view to earning a terminal qualification”.
The lawmaker said the foreign exams mentioned by the sponsor of the bill, are terminal examinations, and not entry examination, like JAMB.
He said that when one sat for entry examination and did not make the cut off score, the exam was re-seated.
The rep said that making the result valid for two years would reduce the standard of education in the country.
Rep. Toby Okechukwu (PDP-Enugu) urged the house not to “throw the baby and bathwater away”.
According to him, students and their parents and sponsors had not only been suffering “double jeopardy, but several jeopardies”.
He said some students had continued to pass JAMB exams, and had not been able to go to school for over five years, which sometimes often results into dropping out of school.
In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker, Hon Ahmed Wase, referred the bill to the relevant committees of the house, for further legislative actions.