The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has set 140 as the minimum admissible score for 2024 admissions into universities across the country.
The registrar of the Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this after the deliberations by stakeholders at the 2024 Policy Meeting on Admissions to Tertiary Institutions.
The meeting held in Abuja, on Thursday.
Oloyede said 100 had been approved as minimum admissible scores into Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
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The registrar explained that the aforementioned points were the minimum, but that did not mean that institutions must comply with them.
He also disclosed that they have agreed that institutions should charge N2, 000 fee for Post UTME screening for now.
Oloyede explained that the board would give the institutions free access to candidates’ photographs, biometrics and other useful information so as to reduce the financial burden on them.
The board also said that candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions from Diaspora, inmates and People Living with Disabilities should be exempted from Post UTME.
The registrar, who discredited notions from the public domain that admissions were given by JAMB, said admission depended on the availability of candidates’ five O’level requirements as UTME was only meant for admission ranking.
Speaking on gaps in admission vacancies and why candidates were not admitted, Oloyede said rigidity of programme choice and mismatch of demand and supply were responsible.
He also listed lack of interest in existing vacancies and trial candidates (No O’level results or awaiting results) as responsible for admission gaps in the tertiary institutions.
Speaking, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Chris Maiyaki urged the institutions to adhere to the approved admission quota, saying it is non negotiable as it has more impact on the credibility of the admission process.
In the meantime, the Minister of Education has waived the 18-year benchmark for admission into tertiary institutions.
At a policy meeting organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) in Abuja, Mamman had announced that only applicants who were 18 years and above were eligible for admission.
This sparked a controversy as stakeholders across tertiary institutions in the country, kicked against what the minister said.
Immediately after Mamman made the announcement, the hall erupted in rowdiness.
In a move to calm frayed nerves, the minister had asked, “Are we together?”, to which the attendees chorused “No!”
It took the intervention of the JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, before normalcy was restored.
While reacting to the grumblings from the participants, he insisted that the law required that their children should be in school at 18 years, having attended six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school and three years in senior secondary school.
The minister noted that the meeting was to ensure that the process of admission for 2024/2024 was fair.
He said the position of the Federal Ministry of Education had not changed from any institution that does admission outside the right process, which is the Central Application Process (CAP).
One of the participants who did not want to be named said: “That is not possible, how can a child finish school, write WAEC and JAMB and pass and you deny him admission?”
But the minister later accepted the suggestions of the stakeholders that those from 16 years and above should be eligible for this year’s admission while the law would apply from next year.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has disclosed that by September 2024 a new curriculum would be introduced for secondary schools in the country.
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