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  For the first time in its 43-year history, Nigeria’s Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has cancelled the general cut-off marks for admitting students into tertiary institutions in the country. This information was disclosed during the board’s 2021 virtual policy meeting chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.
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Speaking during the meeting, JAMB’s registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, revealed that tertiary institutions have been given the freedom to decide their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) cut-off marks, a significant shift from the past when they had to go with JAMB’s benchmark.
‘Some universities such as University of Maiduguri proposed 150, Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto proposed 140, Pan Atlantic University proposed 210, University of Lagos 200, Lagos State University 190. Covenant University 190, Bayero University Kano, 180. Institutions have now been given the liberty to decide cut-off marks, there will be no cut-off from JAMB.’ Is-haq Oloyede
It will be recalled that JAMB in 2020 had fixed 160 as the minimum cut-off mark for Nigerian universities, 120 for the country’s polytechnics, and 100 for colleges of education. Also, the meeting approved six and two or E in deference to extant law as the maximum and minimum scores for Direct Entry (DE). The event saw the introduction of two new subjects (Computer Studies and Physical and Health Education) into the UTME, bringing the total to 25 subjects. Foreign nationals, the visually impaired, and prison inmates, were exempted from taking the test.
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Discussing the 2020 admissions, Oloyede stated that of the 956,809 vacant admission spots in Nigeria’s 962 tertiary institutions, some 600,000 students gained admission. Oloyede noted that the gap in vacant admission slots could not be filled because the candidates were not qualified, while private universities could only admit 36,381 out of the 120,938 available slots. The Nigerian education minister who was represented by Sonny Echono, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, hailed the adoption of the National Identity Number (NIN) by JAMB, stating that it has aided the fight against examination malpractices in the country. The minister said:
‘I am enthused that the last examinations recorded the lowest cases of examination irregularities in the history of the board because those, who normally would have exploited the weak links through biometrics infractions, have been effectively checkmated with the introduction of NIN by JAMB. It is gratifying that WAEC has decided to follow the path of using NIN to curb examination malpractices. The ministry is presently considering other ways of using the NIN to uncover some other admissions irregularities and all perpetrators, including their collaborators.’
Sources: Lions Crib Guardian NG Featured Image Source: EkoHot Blog
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This article was first published on 3rd September 2021 and updated on September 5th, 2021 at 10:25 pm

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