Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Dibu Ojerinde has declared as ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘illegal’ the Post-UTME examination conducted by tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
The JAMB boss added that the examination body was not responsible for scrapping the exercise adding that it was cancelled by the Minister of Education after due consultation.
He said these while featuring on Sunrise Daily, an early morning programme on Channels TV.
Noting that there is a difference between screening and test, he said that the initial agreement with institutions was to conduct screening exercise to determine their eligibility.
His words: “Nobody say you should not screen candidates. The screening involves checking of their certificates, subject combination, Jamb scores and other prerequisites to ensure that they meet up with the requirement. It is screening, not test.
“What government asked them to do right from the beginning is screening and not test. Former President Obasanjo said this when he was in power; ‘I did not ask you to conduct another exam, all I say is screen the candidates before they come in’ and that exactly is what the minister is talking about.”
Quoting some sections of the constitution, Ojerinde stressed further that the exercise is unconstitutional and has no legal basis.
“According to section 5, sub-section 1A of the constitution, the general control for the conduct of matriculation examination for admission into all the universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education or whatever name called is vested in JAMB.
“Section 5, sub-section 2 also states; the board shall be responsible for determining matriculation requirements and conducting examination leading to undergraduate admission and also for admission into National Dipoma and National Certificate in Education, NCE.”
Ojerinde said that a uniform screening process will soon be developed.
