University admission sessions still valid, says JAMB

NASU, SSANU begin negotiation on withheld salaries

Despite closing university gates during the COVID-19 lockdown and an eight-month industrial action, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said admissions for 2020/21, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 sessions are still valid.

This comes as Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) said it would engage the Federal Government on the withheld eight months’ salaries of its members.

Speaking yesterday, in Abuja at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NASU, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede urged parents, guardians and students to contact the choice institutions to ascertain the status of admissions.

He said: “Candidates should keep interacting with the institution of their choice to know the state of admissions there. Let me say here that the admissions for the 20/21, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 academic sessions have not lapsed and they will not lapse. No admission has been cancelled. The institutions will determine how they intend to conduct their admissions. I appeal to parents and students to regularly contact their choice institutions for whatever is necessary for their admission process. They can contact JAMB too for anything they want to know about admissions.”
JAC, NASU and SSANU indicated their readiness to engage the Federal Government on the withheld seven months’ salary as a result of the strike through the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi.

Adeyemi, who disclosed this at the NEC meeting of the union in Abuja, yesterday, said: “This is the right time to face the issue of unpaid salaries now that the schools have resumed. We could not have started the process when the schools were shut. We will begin to appeal to those that took the decision to see how they can reverse it.

“Going on strike was not our making. We were forced into it by the prevailing circumstances at the time. I am confident that the withheld salaries will be paid. The withheld salaries of our colleagues in the health sector were paid through the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige. The Minister is still there and I know he will intervene in this matter as well.”

On the payment platform for the university, which is one of the issues in contention, Adeyemi said there was no decision on that yet.

“The payment platforms were subjected to various tests. The result of the tests showed that IPPIS failed the tests while the platforms designed by the university-based unions passed the tests. The result will be transmitted to the government, which will then set up the machinery of marrying all the findings into a formidable payment platform that will be fair to workers?