Examining peculiarity of UNIABUJA’s 2018 post-UTME

On a yearly basis, within the last five years, universities and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria are known for the conduct of in-house examinations otherwise known as Post-UTME tests for admission seekers, but University of Abuja has a peculiar way of carrying out its in own exercise TAIYE ODEWALE examines the unique method
Unique processes While some Nigerian universities including the first generation ones like the Universities of Ibadan, Nsukka, ABU Zaria, OAU Ife, UNILAG , UNIBEN and second generation ones like Universities of Ilorin, Jos, BUK Kano, Calabar etc, invite thousands of their prospective students for Computer Based Test ( CBT) as an in- house matriculation examination with attendant additional expenses on the admission seekers in terms of transportation fares for long journeys and possible hotel accommodation for those who have no relations or family friends where universities of choice are located , admission seekers in University of Abuja require no such stressful process before being thoroughly screened and offered admission if they possess the requisite qualifications in terms of having the required five credits, including English Language and Mathematics in not more than two sittings, required scores depending on their course of study in UTME of the year in question, as well as percentage scores got when UTME and O’ level results are rated together .
The most striking aspect of the UniAbuja’s model of in – house mechanism for selecting those to be offered admissions for its numerous courses across the nine faculties among thousands of admission seekers , is that each of the admission seekers, will provide scratch card on line for the university to verify his or her uploaded WAEC or NECO O’ level results for required grading along with scores obtained in the UTME earlier sat for .
Why we introduced internal mechanism for admission Explaining the reason for such unique internal mechanism for admission in an exclusive chat with Blueprint, the spokesman of the university, Mr Waziri Garba, said: “ the process is designed to achieve two main purposes .
one to save admission seekers that are over 20,000 competing for about 4,000 spaces from unnecessary stress, troubles or expenses of having to travel from different parts of the country to Abuja for a CBT test or screening as being done by most of the other universities and two, to at the point of uploading of required results into the university portal, assess the genuineness or authenticity of such results particularly WAEC or NECO results “.
Doing this according to him, will 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 , FCT, Abuja , as its catchment area for the sole purpose of ensuring meritocracy and transparency in its admission process and in the long run , producing graduates who can stand out in the society intellectually and productively on higher templates than the ones the recently appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) Mrs Aishah Ahmad and former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation , Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, are standing now as proud products of the university.
“While Aishah Ahmad read Accounting in the university , Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin read Political Science , different fields in which both of them are competing very well with other Nigerians in the fields and contributing their quota to the growth and development of the country”, he explained.
He added that the 30 years old citadel of learning , is being turned around positively across the various faculties by the present management under the Vice Chancellorship of Professor Michael Umale Adikwu, as regards consolidation of available courses and introduction of societal- development driven ones.
He went down the memory lane and submitted thus: “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 an expanse of land covering over 11,800 hectares along the Abuja – Abuja road for the development of its main campus which has largely been developed now and serves as the main campus of the university with all the faculties there except Institute of Education and Remedial Studies that are still operating from the Gwagwalada campus.
“The university Medical Centre which has been equipped with modern medical facilities and high profile personnel cannot be ignored.
Recreational facilities “The campus hosts a number of recreational facilities including an Olympic size football field, a volleyball pitch and a long-tennis court” He added that though within the last 30 years of existence of the university, it has tried in living up to its mission and vision but the gamut of the two cardinal goals would further be met in the years ahead as being currently managed and run.
“In order to fulfill the mission and vision of the university, the objectives of the University of Abuja have been clearly spelt out in section 1(3) of its law [University of Abuja Act – 106(1992) cap U2 LFN (2004)].
Vision, Mission, Objectives “Specifically, the objectives of university shall be: To encourage the advancement of learning and to hold out to all person without distinction of race , creed ,sex or political conviction, the opportunity of acquiring higher liberal education.
To provide courses of instruction and other facilities for the pursuit of learning in all its branches.
To make those facilities available to such persons as are equipped to benefit from them.
“To encourage and promote scholarship and conduct research in all fields of learning and human endeavor.
To relate its activities to the social, cultural and economic needs of the people of Nigeria.
“To undertake as part of its academic programmes distance learning and continuing education in various disciplines “To cater for the interest of working class or those who cannot benefit from the full-time university education and to undertake any other activities appropriate for a university of the highest standards”.
Despite the unique features, many observers believe there is room for improvement and that a lot could be achieved to make the ivory tower great.