VCs devise new means
By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Martin Paul, Abuja, Umar Bayo Abdulwahab, Ilorin, Mohammed Yangida, Lafia and Amaechi Okwara, Asaba
Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education will lose over N5 billion with the recent abolition of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UMTE) by the federal government.
Blueprint recalls that the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, formally announced the ban last week.
Statistics obtained by our correspondents showed that affected institutions will lose billions which they hitherto raked in annually from the pre-admission screenings.
This year alone, over 1,592,000 candidates sat for the UTME. More than half of the figure would have sat for the post-UTME test on passing the UTME, in order to secure admission.
Taking 60 percent of the candidates as those qualified to sit for the test on obtaining the UTME cut-off mark, the number of candidates comes to 954, 000.
Going by the prevailing charges among universities, each of those candidates would have to pay an average of N5, 000, bring the figure to about N5 billion.
The screening was introduced for universities in 2005 with a recommended charge of N1, 000 per prospective student.
The new policy adopted at the 2015 Joint Policy Meeting had provided for universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Matriculation Examinations (UTME) to, henceforth, be reassigned to other universities with lower number of candidates.
Registrar/CEO of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, said the policy had two benefits for “needy universities,” that is universities with lower number of candidates than their capacities, adding that “this will ensure that these universities will have more candidates to admit.”
He explained that “candidates will have better chances for admission in the universities they are re-assigned to, contrary to situations where they would await admission in the universities of their first choices until the admission exercise closes and they forfeit admission in that session.”
Regrets
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) statistics showed that the University of Ilorin (Unilorin), with highest number of applications (103,238), would not realise less than N516, 190, 000 from the 2016 post-UTME screening alone.
Last year, no fewer than 63, 000 qualified candidates paid the sum of N3,000 each to seat for the Computer Based Test (CBT) conducted by the university.
Out of the large number of applicants that sat for CBT, the university could only admit about 9, 000. That was after it had written to the National Universities Commission (NUC) to increase its quota.
With the new policy, the University of Maiduguri, with a total of 36,227 candidates for first, second, third and fourth choices, failed to rake in N181, 135, 000 as revenue from the post-UTME.
University of Uyo, with 39, 860 candidates, would have got N199,300,000, just as Abubarka Tafawa Belewa University (ATBU), with only 7,971 candidates, would have earned a total of N39,855,000, if it were to charge the same N5, 000 per post-UTME candidate.
The University of Benin (Uniben) in Edo state, which got over 60,020 applications, followed by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UniZik) with over 58,410 UTME applicants, realised N300 million and N292,050,000, respectively.
The fourth most desired institution for the 2015 post-UTME was the University of Nigeria, Nsukka-with 57,539 applicants, while the fifth most sought after was the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, with 52,785; the University of Lagos (Unilag) had 49,059 applicants, last year.
The statistics further showed that while UNN with 57,539 raked in N287695, 000, ABU with 52,785 applicants, realised N263,925,000, just as Unilag’s 49,059 candidates poured the sum of N245,295,000 into its coffers.
However, some institutions, such as the University of Abuja and Federal University, Lafia, have maintained the figures at N2,000 which, they said, is only used for logistics.
Registrar of the Federal University, Lafia, Dr. Idris Othman Jibrin, said the institution had never considered the funds from the post-UTME test “a major source of revenue for the university; and I don’t think it is going to affect us in anyway.”
Varsities, others kick
The Association of Vice-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities has urged the federal government to allow the Senates of their institutions to prescribe the modalities for admission.
The Secretary General of the association, Michael Faborede, stated this at the 4th Biennial Conference on the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria held at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state.
Faborede argued that since education was on the concurrent list in the 1999 Constitution, the federal government should be careful in making pronouncements on educational matters that would affect the states and private universities.
“The issue of post UTME is also very hot now. We have emphasised to the minister, the right of each university Senate to prescribe the modality for admissions and also that education matters that will affect the state and private universities,” he said.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, while reacting to the ban, said the university would have to wait for the outcome of a meeting of vice-chancellors with the minister before announcing its next line of action.
Chairman, Council of Heads of Rectors of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology in Nigeria (COHEADS), Alhaji Ma’ud Elelu, said phasing out the screening exercise was done in bad taste.
The COHEADS chair, who is also the Rector of Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, said the screening “is necessary to avoid admitting applicants of questionable character.
“We need to be careful in order not to admit students who had been expelled from other institutions and as well as ascertain the genuineness of applicants’ certificates,” he said.
He recalled what led to the scrapping of the post-UTME thus: “We were in a meeting with the ministers. About 500 of us were in attendance, including vice-chancellors, rectors, and the minister asked if we were satisfied with the performance of JAMB in conducting examinations and everybody said ‘yes.’
“He asked again everybody said ‘yes,’ he then said since we are all satisfied with the performance of JAMB; there will be no more post-UTME examination.
“But the minister could not wait till the end of the meeting to listen to the reactions of people; he left for another assignment at the Villa and asked the permanent secretary to continue.”
‘Screening inevitable’
Universities and affected institutions are, however, said to be devising new ways of obtaining the money likely to be lost through the new policy by coming up with other modalities under different names.
Polytechnic and colleges of technology in the country might have followed suit.
Elelu, who is also the rector of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, told newsmen that the polytechnic would conduct “pre-admission security and certificate verification screening” for those seeking admission into the polytechnic.
Asked if the screening would be free, Elelu declared that it would have “financial implications.”
“It cannot be for free; we have to pay bandwidth which we always procure from the US, we have to pay for certificate verification, security and all that.”
Blueprint further recalls that the education minister had repeatedly warned that the ban would not be reversed; stressing that any institution that flouted the directive would be sanctioned.
