Varsities deviated
from 2004 agreement- Okebukola
Post utme:
...No, scrapping post-UTME violates varsity
autonomy—Aremu
...Places admission burden on federal
varsities
By Dayo Adesulu
FORMER Executive Secretary, National
Universities Commission, NUC, Professor
Peter Okebukola has said that Nigerian
universities deviated from the initial agreement
NUC had with Vice-Chancellors in 2004 when
it introduced post-UTME to screen candidates
via oral interview and written essay. Just as
the Deputy Director, Distance Learning Centre,
University of Ibadan, UI, Professor Oyesoji
Akanmi also stated that scrapping post-UTME
is against the university autonomy, saying, ‘’
The development will place admission
burden on the 40 federal universities."
Though many stakeholders who spoke with
Vanguard expressed joy with the scrapping of
post-UTME, some others have reservations,
adding that it will not address the problem of
admission deficit encounter yearly. Okebukola
who was the Executive Secretary NUC when
post-UTME was introduced in 2004, said that
it was a tough battle fought under the
leadership of Professor Chinwe Obaji as
Minister of Education to get approval.
While expatiating on reasons for the
introduction of post-UTME in 2014, he
explained that the NUC and the vice-
chancellors discovered that more than ever
before, they needed to admit into the
universities, secondary school leavers who
have at least two characteristics.
Cognitive competence
The first characteristic, he noted, is to ensure
that admission seekers attain minimum
cognitive competence in the relevant subjects
in the discipline they wish to study. The
second was to test their competence in
written and oral English, critical thinking and
ability to present ideas in a logical sequence
befitting of undergraduates in Africa’s most-
expansive and well-regarded university
system.
‘’JAMB’s UTME targets only the first
characteristic; while the university-level
screening should measure the second,’’ he
said. He, however said: ‘’We got the blessing
of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the
National Assembly to do the following: (a)
maximum charge to candidates for the
exercise should be one thousand naira, (b)
candidates should be screened not with the
kind of test used by JAMB but through other
mechanisms.
The screening, he noted was agreed upon by
all vice-chancellors to be through oral
interview and essay which JAMB assessment
does not cover, adding: ‘’Up till about 2009,
these guidelines were largely followed leading
us to get very good quality candidates for our
universities.’’
According to him, since 2010, both guidelines
were ditched by most universities, stressing
that universities were conducting the same
tests as JAMB, charging at least five times the
agreed-cost and not conducting oral
interviews and essay screening.
Intuitive sense
The goal of the post-UTME, he explained,
shifted from selection of the best candidates
to using post-UTME to make money. ‘’Since
universities have derailed, it makes intuitive
sense to close the post-UTME shop,’’ he
added. The former Scribe expressed joy in the
scrapping of post-UTME, adding that it now
takes the universities system back to the
original model of post-UME which NUC
initiated in 2004 while he was serving as
Executive Secretary.
Meanwhile, in his reaction, the Deputy
Director, Distance Learning Centre, Prof
Oyesoji Aremu said that scrapping post-UTME
would not address the problem of access to
the universities, but will rather place
admission burden on federal universities.
According to him, scrapping post-UTME would
place more burden on the 40 federal
universities, adding that more than 80% of
candidates yearly make federal universities
like University of Ibadan, University of Lagos,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello
University, University of Benin, and University
of Nigeria, Nsuka their first choice.
Quality assurance
He warned that if candidates are forced on the
universities, it will make a mockery of the
expected quality assurance which the policy of
Post-UTME is all about. While lamenting the
scrapping of post-UTME which he noted
negates the question of university autonomy,
he explained that the Ministry of Education
through its agency, National University
Commission regulates the universities, adding,
‘’university autonomy especially in federal
Universities is a function of University Senate
and each Governing Council.
‘’Thus, determination of admission policy
(including Post-UTME), regulation of academic
activities among other activities, are functions
of Universities’ Senates and not that of the
Ministry of Education,’’ he said. Prior to Post-
UTME, he noted that most federal universities
have been conducting another layer of
assessment of candidates in form of interview
and interaction. This, according to him is to
ensure Quality Assurance given the fact that
UTME has been compromised in terms of
quality of the candidates who seek admission.
His words: ‘’The scrapping of post-UTME
would also unsettle the candidates and their
parents emotionally and in some, give false
illusion that they can get admission with 180
Cut-off Mark, a benchmark that is practically
impossible given the huge number of
applicants.
In proffering a solution, Aremu disclosed that
the way out is for the Ministry of Education,
through NUC, to call a stakeholders meeting
to re-appraise the problem of access to
admission. He said: ‘’University admission
should be deregulated. It should be a
question of quality of education provided by
each University. Government should also re-
evaluate JAMB with a view to making the body
and its evaluation interventions much more
acceptable to the end users. Open access to
education through Distance Education should
also be re-invigorated and less
discriminatory."
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