Determined to sanitise processes for admission into universities in the country, the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says the examination body will not only expose culpable Vice-Chancellors and their institutions, but will also withdraw admissions granted to unqualified candidates at the expense of the qualified ones, stating that admissions must be strictly based on merit.
Oloyede, who gave the indication at a meeting of critical stakeholders in Abuja recently, lamented that some Vice-Chancellors played questionable roles in admission processes.
He alleged that some VCs deliberately admitted unqualified candidates at the expense of the qualified ones on the ground that the qualified candidates did not sit for the Post UTME Examination of the universities in question.
Oloyede, who stressed the need for fairness in admission process, said, “This year, we discovered that majority of such claims by Vice-Chancellors were false,” adding that investigation by JAMB revealed that such misconduct had paved the way for the admission of unqualified candidates.
The Registrar, who was former Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, said, “It is sad that intellectuals are beginning to usurp admission processes which ought to be entirely merit-based.
“When an institution wants to admit an unqualified candidate, it ensures that the candidate’s Post UTME scores are not provided, then they will claim that the candidate did not write the examination,” he said, stressing that the plot was in order to pave the way for unqualified candidate for personal interest.
He added, “We will get to the root of every such matter and we are already in touch with qualified candidates who were tactically denied admission but who have come to JAMB to prove that they sat for the Post UTME of the universities.
“We have instructed universities to upload all Post UTME results in order to checkmate the excesses.
“In Akure, a qualified candidate was denied admission and his cry reached JAMB. The reason given by the institution was that he did not write Post UTME. Fortunately, the boy was able to reach JAMB and he said, ‘no, I sat for Post UTME and I scored 80 percent,’ and he sent the Post UTME result to JAMB, whereas the university had made false claim that the candidate didn’t sit for the Post UTME examination”.
Oloyede explained that the false claim by the university was in order to deny him of admission for the benefit of a preferred candidate.
He expressed worries that those who engaged in admission scam simply did so by discarding the name of a candidate taking for granted the fact that the person sat for Post UTME examination as the system is programmed not to pick candidates without record of Post UTME result.
Oloyede said apart from uploading Post UTME results of candidates, “all other scores must be uploaded before commencement of admission process.”
The registrar, noting that some universities admitted candidates with awaiting results, described the practice as harmful to university education and warned that JAMB would nullify the admission of candidates without O/Level grades.
He said, “When a candidate scores 280 in JAMB examination and also scores 70 percent in the Post UTME, he is certainly qualified because he is among the best.
“If such a candidate desires to study medicine, a culpable university will tactically advise him to change his desired course of study. This the university does in order to pave the way for their preferred candidates who are less qualified than the top candidates.
“The unsuspecting qualified candidate will change his course of study to Chemistry because he has been persuaded that he cannot compete for the admission to study medicine.
“As a result of his change of course, the preferred unqualified candidate will gain higher ranking that will earn him selection by the system which is programmed to pick candidates.
“JAMB will send text messages to candidates who demonstrated potential for any course through their very high scores; we will tell them that there is no need to change the course of study they have indicated because they are qualified for it.”
The Registrar urged university authorities in the country to sanitise the system by ensuring that admissions were based on merit.
