Chief Sunny Onuesoke, a prominent chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to dismantle the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Onuesoke argues that JAMB has morphed into a profit-driven entity, burdening impoverished parents and students without adequately serving its purpose.
Speaking out, the former Delta PDP governorship aspirant criticized the efficacy and fairness of JAMB, highlighting a staggering statistic: of the 1.9 million candidates who took the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), only 8,400 scored 300 and above.
“It is troubling that JAMB, which should be a non-profit agency, is more focused on revenue generation than on facilitating education,” Onuesoke stated.
Onuesoke contends that despite the UTME, universities still conduct their own entrance exams, rendering JAMB redundant.
He described the UTME as “a way of defrauding the masses” and an unnecessary barrier to higher education.
“The JAMB registrar’s boasts about the funds remitted to the Federation Account are especially galling amid widespread exam failures,” he remarked.
He questioned the logic behind selling forms to 1.9 million candidates when Nigerian universities can only admit around 400,000 students. “This practice seems designed to extort money from parents under the guise of competition,” Onuesoke alleged.
Advocating for a more direct approach to university admissions, Onuesoke suggested using West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) results as the primary criteria, supplemented by university-specific entrance standards.
“Every university has its own standards for admission. Why persist with a unified examination system?” he asked.
Onuesoke’s proposal calls for a significant overhaul of the current system, emphasizing the need for universities to independently assess and admit students based on WAEC and NECO results.
“This change would simplify the process and potentially reduce the financial burden on parents and students alike,” he asserted.
