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Heads of Nigerian
Universities yesterday condemned the recent call by lawmakers for
post-JAMB tests in the country to be stopped, saying the entrance
examination into the tertiary institutions conducted by Joint Admission
and Matriculation Board (JAMB), is no longer credible.

Chairman of the
Committee of Vice Chancellors and Vice Chancellor of University of Port
Harcourt, Don Baridam, who briefed reporters in Abuja, said it is out
of place for members of the House Representative to outrightly call for
the university entrance examination to be stopped.

Mr. Baridam said
JAMB is no longer credible, as it does not in any way present a
candidate’s true stand academically, hence the need for an additional
test.

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“If they want to
scrap the post UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations), the
first thing is to invite the universities and hear from them,” he said.
“More than 90 per of those who wrote it have graduated. The first batch
left last year, the second batch will leave this year and from the
reports they are doing well.

“Post UTME is not
illegal. Universities had laws and the laws of the universities were
done by the government binding the behaviour of members of the
universities. This idea of post UTME started in 2004. The
implementation was in 2005 and members of the National Assembly were
quite aware of it. If it is illegal, they would have stopped us then.
We are doing it for the interest of this country, not for personal
interest. We want to see that we get in the best candidates. We cannot
compete globally if we admit those who cannot write their names. We
must ensure that right candidates are admitted into the universities.”

On the fees paid by
candidates before being admitted to write the test, Mr. Baridam stated
that technologies and materials are used in conducting the examination
and should be paid for; adding that the fees charged go towards
validating the credibility of the examination.

“It is not an avenue for exploitation but for selecting the best candidates,” he said.

Easy to cheat

The university
administrator said the post UTME had become imperative considering that
JAMB examinations cannot be depended upon.

“It is easy to cheat in JAMB exams as the security measure is porous,” he said.

The president of
the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian universities, Awuzie Ukachukwu,
also told newsmen that the National Assembly should have been
interested in reviewing the act that set up JAMB.

“They are just grandstanding. They should look at the JAMB, review
the act holistically,” he said. “Since there are more qualified
Nigerian students who are not admitted because of lack of access, NASS
should create access for children to get to the universities. They
should not be talking about post UTME, the trivial aspect of the whole
thing while the main issue is access. Access centres on funding,
providing facility for every child to go to tertiary institution.”