By FEMI ABBAS
“You can never change things in a society by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, you can only build a new model that can render the old one obsolete’’. Anonymous
Preamble
If most literate Nigerian city dwellers called elite hear or read about JAMB’s new policy, the tendency is for them to react, if tacitly, with the usual Nigerian reprobate as follows: This JAMB again! What the hell is it cooking again?
Despite the claim of education and civilization by those elite, it has virtually become a permanent tradition for them to seek progress without wanting to pass through a process of change. Yet, nothing guarantees progress as much as change through the rule of law.
Rule of Law
Rule of law in any sane society is not a mere expression of wishes. It is rather the real basis of guaranteeing enduring serenity. A society or organization without rule of law is like George Owen’s proverbial ‘Animal Farm’ in which all animals are said to be equal in theory but some are practically seen to be more equal than others.
Nigeria’s Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is not an ‘Animal Farm’ that can be given conflicting interpretations according to conflicting perceptions.
Innovation
Like any trustable and sustainable Board or Organization that genuinely serves the people, JAMB is not resting on its oars in ensuring firmness of the rule of law for furtherance of serenity in the country.
That is why it (JAMB) created a broad-based ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ in 2017, as a way of carrying along well-meaning concerned members of the public with their various specialized expertise, thereby making the Board a truly service oriented public institution for the country’s development.
Critical Stakeholders Forum
Since its establishment in 2017, JAMB’s ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ has tremendously assisted JAMB in engendering a positive departure from the hitherto public perception in which the institution was negatively shrouded. The inputs of the ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ into the policies of JAMB have become a significant confirmation that it is quite possible to run an institution like JAMB democratically, even in a country like Nigeria, despite all overt and covert odds.
Thus, today, the formulation of policies in JAMB is no longer an exclusive burden for which the Registrar or Management staff of that institution can be taken to ransom. Most of those policies are now jointly formulated at an open door annual meeting of virtually all professionals whose diverse expertise are effectively tapped for the advancement of JAMB and the progress of Nigeria. This dynamic action initiated by the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, in less than six months after his assumption of office has not just facilitated a thorough understanding of JAMB operations by Nigerian public; it has also become a quiet but constructive revolution that can be globally emulated and possibly equaled but not surpassed.
Biometric Verification
One of JAMB’s latest policies that has just been formulated for effective execution during the 2019 UTME is mandatory biometric verification which all candidates for this year’s examination will be made to pass through.
Thus, the candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and those of the future should know that henceforth, biometric verification is compulsory for them and without it, there will be no admittance into the examination hall.
No Alternative
The JAMB’s Biometric Verification which will have no alternative is an official scrutiny of any candidate’s claim of an identity. It is an authentication formality with which every candidate will be admitted into the examination hall. Any candidate without certified biometric verification will not be allowed to write the examination. And no candidate without biometric verification should expect a reschedule of his/her missed examination for any reason. This policy, being emphatically presented here, is already contained in Vol 1, N0 11 of the official weekly bulletin of JAMB which can be found in JAMB’s website and has been disseminated to Nigerian media for publication or broadcasting. This year’s UTME candidates and parents who consider it a parental duty to follow their teenage children or wards to examination centers, despite those children’s age and exposure, should please note this policy very well and be prepared to abide by it. The summary is that no biometric verification, no examination. JAMB officials too should note that any candidate who cannot be verified should not be kept waiting to loiter around the examination hall. Such a candidate should immediately be advised to get in touch with JAMB through the already known means.
Handicapped Candidates
As for the handicapped candidates, JAMB has made adequate provision for them through the use of certain devices with which they are quite familiar. They are therefore advised to follow the instructions given to them by JAMB officials and simply abide by the rule of law in order not to regret anything after the exam.
Attendance Register
All candidates should know as well that there is no attendance registration other than biometric verification. Any available photo album found at an examination center will have no space for marking ‘present or absent’. And all examination officials including security agents are strictly advised to comply with these guidelines.
Prohibited Materials
Besides the introduction of biometric verification which is now compulsory for all candidates with no exception, JAMB has listed some materials that are prohibited in its Computer Based Test Centers (CBTC). Such prohibited materials include: books, mobile phones, ink pens and biros, pencils and erasers, wrist watches and jewelries as well as calculators, miniature electronic devices, smart eye lenses, ear pieces, blue tooth devices, bitsy microphones, teeny secret recorders and similar cheating devices. In the case of spy reading glasses which some candidates cannot do without, such must be surrendered to JAMB officials for scrutiny.
Examination Dates
The dates earmarked for 2019 examinations are as follows:
The Mock examination will hold on April 1, 2019.
The main UTME examination will take place throughout the country on April 11, 2019.
All UTME candidates are strictly advised to arrive at their examination centers well ahead of the commencement of examination.
Lateness of any candidate to the examination center may constitute a hindrance for his/her participation in the examination.
Effect of Change
The changes that had caused human progress from time to time in history were never compatible with the existing perennial traditions of those humans because of the revolutionary tendencies of those changes. Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, revolution has effectively proved to be the main determinant of human progress as it occasionally becomes inevitable in human life. The only alternative to it is stagnation. Therefore, a society without revolution, will surely be stagnant.
History of JAMB
When the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established 42 years ago (1977), it came as a revolution which the then existing system of seeking admission into tertiary institutions through concessional examination first tried to resist. At that time, only about six full- fledged Universities were in existence in Nigeria. They were called ‘First Generation’ Universities. The six Universities were the bUniversity of Nigeria, Nsuka, founded in 1960; the University of Lagos, founded in 1962; Ahmadu Bello University founded in 1962; the University of Ife, founded in 1962; the University of Ibadan, upgraded to a full-fledged University in 1963 and the University of Benin, founded in 1970.
Until its upgrade into a full-fledged University in 1963, the University of Ibadan which was established in 1948 as a college of the University of London was the only Higher Institution in Nigeria affiliated to.
At no time in the history of JAMB have stakeholders been involved in the process of UTME as now facilitated by the current administration in that Board. This is an indication that the real revolutionary motive of JAMB is becoming more manifest than ever before. JAMB is a pace setter for revolution in all sectors of public service in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s First Tertiary Institution
What most Nigerians of today did not know is that the very first Tertiary Institution in Nigeria is Yaba College of Technology. That Institution was established in Lagos in 1932 with the name Yaba Higher College. It was however commissioned in 1934 and renamed Yaba College of Technology in 1947, one year before the establishment of the University College, Ibadan. Today, with over 200 Higher Institutions including Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it is almost impossible to gain admission into any of those Tertiary Institutions without passing through JAMB. Thus, no matter the angle from which JAMB is viewed, it has practically the main yardstick with which the standardization of Nigerian tertiary education is measured.
