The year 2023 has come and gone. The activities of the Board in the preceding year will, no doubt, shape its policy directions for years to come.
The year 2023 could be considered very eventful for the Board as it strives to sustain its record of improved service
delivery and innovative ways of birthing enduring legacies for upcoming generations of Nigerians.
Some of these activities are captured below:
2023 JAMB Policy Meeting On Admissions
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) held its 2023 Policy Meeting on Admissions on Thursday, 21st July 2022, to discuss critical issues pertaining to the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) applications, in addition to setting the tone for the 2022/2023 Admission exercise.
At the meeting, stakeholders
discussed critical issues emanating from the conduct of the 2023 UTME, and sale of Direct Entry application documents in addition to setting the tone for the 2023/2024 placement of
suitably – qualified candidates for the country’s tertiary institutions.
JAMB Unveiled 1.9 Billion Mega
CBT Centre In Kaduna
Another noteworthy event was the commissioning of a 1000-seater capacity mega computer-based testing centre in Kaduna.
The centre said to be the largest in West Africa, comprised four units of
250-seater examination halls along with four units of holding halls with a combined capacity for sitting 1000 candidates at a go or 4,000 candidates per day.
The erstwhile Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir EI-Rufa’i, accompanied by his successor, the newly-elected Governor then, Sen. Uba Sani, and the then Hon. Minister
of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu commended the Board for the Conception and execution of the N1.19b CBT centre situated along Tafawa Balewa Way, Kaduna, and hailed the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq
Oloyede, for his prudent
management of resources while
lauding the impact of the centre on the educational landscape of the State, prospective candidates from both Kaduna and its adjourning States.
Mmesoma Forged Result Scandal
No account of the preceding year would be complete without
mentioning the Case of the 19-year-old Ms. Mmesoma Ejikeme, who trended for the wrong reasons in the third quarter of that year.
It would be recalled that Mmesoma had paraded 362 as her UTME score but later accepted the errors of her ways when confronted with overwhelming evidence proving that she had forged her UTME result, where she had scored 249!
JAMB had subsequently sanctioned her appropriately to serve as a deterrent to other prospective examination cheats.
Advisories To Institutions, Stakeholders, Others
To strengthen the system as well as provide adequate guidelines to institutions, stakeholders and candidates, the Board rolled out a series of advisories via multiple
channels of communication to ensure wide dissemination.
Some of these are the Advisory for Registrars of Tertiary Institutions on the Operations of the Central Admissions Processing system(CAPS) as a Communication Platform.
Others included: Advisory on
Managing Programmes and Institutions for Regulatory Bodies; Advisory on Managing Programmes for Tertiary Institutions; Advisory on Reviewing New Programmes and Institutions for Registrars and Administrators.
The Board also issued an Advisory on the Procedure for Processing Indemnity Forms for Affiliated Institutions; Advisory Procedure for Processing (Degree) Affiliated Institutions on Internal Transfer of Candidates from one Programme to another on CAPS; Advisory on Extending the Scope of Service for CBT Centres; Advisory on how to Handle Condonement of Undisclosed Illegal Institutional Admissions, Cessation of Illegal/Irregular Admissions; and Advisory on Foreign Inter-university Transfer for states (Not freshers); Advisory on Emergency Transfer of Returnee Nigerian Students into Nigerian Universities System in Time of Crisis, among others.
Establishment Of Nigeria Post-Secondary Education Data System (NIPEDS)
As part of efforts to curb fraud and unwholesome practices associated with the acquisition of A’level qualifications, the Board had secured the necessary approval for the setting up of NIPEDS.
The Registrar, of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, had warned Direct Entry registration officers not to compromise on the new guidelines issued by the Board or involve themselves in any registration infractions that could jeopardise the future of the country while stating its resolve to curb the abuses associated with A-level certificates.
JAMB-JEOG Conference
One other crucial milestone recorded in 2023 was the “1st National Conference on Equal Opportunity of Access to Higher Education in Nigeria” organised by the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group(JEOG).
The conference, which has the
theme: “Towards Increasing Equal Opportunity of Access to Higher Education in Nigeria” was aimed at boosting enrolment opportunities for
persons with disabilities in the
Nigerian tertiary education system.
The foregoing were some of the
highlights of the previous year.
2024 promises to be no less rewarding in terms of innovative and landmark solutions to emergent issues.
As the Board unveils its programmes and activities for 2024, Nigerians should expect nothing other than the best from one of the foremost examination bodies in Africa.
The months ahead promise to be achievement-filled and eventful year.
JAMBulletin
