On yearly basis within the last six years, universities and other tertiary institutions conduct post-UTME screening for admission seekers, but the University of Abuja has a peculiar way of carrying out its in-house screening for prospective students.
Taiye Odewale examines this unique method.
While most universities, including first and second generation universities, invite thousands of their prospective students for post-UTME screening with attendant expenses, admission seekers to UniAbuja require no such stressful process for screening.
They are offered admission if they possess the requisite qualifications in terms of having the required five credits including English Language and Mathematics in not less than two sittings, depending on the course of studies in UTME of the year in question.
The most striking aspect of UniAbuja’s model of post-UTME screen is that each candidate will provide scratch card online for the university to verify his or her uploaded WAEC or NECO ‘O’ level results for verification.
Explaining the reason for such unique model in an exclusive chat with the Blueprint, the spokesperson of the university, Mr Waziri Garba said, “The process is designed to achieve two main purposes: firstly to save admission seekers from unnecessary stress and expenses of having to travel from different parts of the country to Abuja for the test.
Secondly, to at the point of uploading of required results into the university portal, management assesses the genuineness of such results particularly WAEC or NECO results.
announced that the institution would be upgraded to a university status and would be renamed as City University of Technology, Kaduna.
Meanwhile a 21-year-old student of Kaduna Polytechnic, Ruqayya Olarewaju, is one of the many Nigerian undergraduates who combine their academic pursuit with business.
Speaking with newsmen, Olarewaju said she makes an average of N15,000 monthly from sales of jewellery she makes at home.
She said that she started the business in 2017 after undergoing a training workshop.
Apart from the money she makes from Jewellery sales, the young entrepreneur also makes additional money in training others who pay N10, 000 each.
“The business is a profitable one because I sell jewellery and also train people who are interested in the business.
“So far, I have trained five people who are all doing well and I make N500 sale every day.” Recently, it was reported that a final year student of UniLag, Success Oluwatosin started a Jewellery business with N100, 000 and became successful.
Doing this, Garba said, would prevent admission seekers with fake results from getting admitted and insulate admission officers from undue pressures directly from prospective students or their parents.
“The mechanism in a nutshell, is arrived at by the university which has the entire 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory as its catchment area for the sole purpose of ensuring meritocracy and transparency in its admission process, which in the long run, produce graduates who can stand out in the society.’ Speaking further, he added that the 30-year old school was being turned around positively across the various faculties by the present management under the vice-chancellorship of Prof.
Michael Umale Adikwu as regards consolidation of available courses.
“Historically, the university established in 1988, took off from a temporary site, made up of three blocks of building meant for a primary school in Gwagwalada, tagged the “Mini Campus” “Academic activities started on the mini-campus in 1990.
In the same year, the university was allocated over 11,800 hectares along Gwagwalada-Abuja road for the development of its main campus, which has largely been developed.
Only Institute of Education and Remedial Studies are still operating from the mini campus,” he said.
