JAMB warns institutions against arbitrary admission processes

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned all tertiary institutions in the country against setting arbitrary criteria for the 2016/2017 admission process.

JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, issued the warning yesterday in Abuja during the Extra-Ordinary Technical Committee Meeting on 2016 Admissions.

He said in the course of the First (1st) Technical Meeting, it was observed that some institutions were brazenly arbitrary in their criteria for admission, noting that as a referee, the Board would resist such arbitrariness and illegal introduction of extraneous factors that were not contained in the published advertisement made available to the candidates.

Oloyede disclosed that the meeting was for the placement of suitably qualified candidates into tertiary institutions and urged them to follow due process in the admission processes.

“We will not accept whatever is done arbitrarily. I hope those that are here will make adjustment. They must be able to explain why somebody with high score was not given admissions.

“What we are saying is that people should follow due process. Universities have the right to have criteria for admission, but the criteria must be reasonable and explicit,” he insisted.

The JAMB boss stressed that the Board would not initiate or insert any candidates, but would ensure that no candidate is unjustly treated by any institutions, adding:

“I, therefore, restate my earlier submission that the Senate and academic boards of the institutions have the primary responsibility of recommending candidates to JAMB.”

Oloyede stated that the only difference between this year’s admissions process and what had always been the practice is the policy that there should be no written post-UTME test.

He hinted that the first batch of the admissions would be out by the third week of this month.

“What we said was that some of the recommendations the institutions brought earlier were not explicit, in terms of criteria, and we have asked our colleagues in the universities to send better criteria.

“I have a particular school where the person who scored the highest was not taken and the reason was because the university changed its rules. That will not be accepted.

“You cannot change the rules when the game is on. You have to wait till 2017 to publish the new rules. You cannot have a particular rule and changed to another.”

The Registrar restated that the Board would work with all stakeholders to smoothen all processes.

“Where things are not done properly, we will not be only doing what is right, but we will also be seen by reasonable people that we have done what is right.”