•Entrance process for varsities, polys, COEs kicks off amidst clash over cut-off points, new rules
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The admission exercise into tertiary institutions in Nigeria has been officially kicked off following the Policy Meeting on Admissions into the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Abuja, last week. It is a platform for the review of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and admission exercise for the previous year, and take decisions expected to guide the exercise in the new admission year.
The meeting was attended by key stakeholders in the tertiary education sector, including vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts, admission officers, members of the National Assembly, and some heads of relevant agencies in the education sector, including NUC, NCCE, NABTEB, TETFund and NELFfund.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, admonished the institutions to abide by the decisions and resolutions taken at the meeting in good faith, not for convenient purposes, but because they are expected to guide the admission exercise and ensure that all set rules are strictly complied with.
He said: “Nevertheless, the decisions are expected to herald credible and seamless admission exercise into tertiary institutions in Nigeria providing equal opportunity of all candidates.” He lambasted lawmakers for aiding the proliferation of tertiary institutions in Nigeria: “This idea affects the integrity of the system. Sadly, they are done for political purposes and not for the need of it.
“For instance, about 121 universities receive 0 to 49 applications from candidates in the 2025 UTME exercise. The colleges of education are the worst hit. It’s important we discourage this proliferation of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and push the energy to drive the funding campaign.”
2024 admission review
Registrar, Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made a presentation that contained statistics and data regarding the 2024 admission vis-a-vis the number of admissions and candidates’ choices (courses and institutions), among others.
He noted that about two million candidates registered for the 2024 UTME, and from all indications, the majority of the registrants are “trial candidates. These are underaged students in SS2 or SS1 who are apparently pushed by their parents to test their intellectual capacity.
“Most of them don’t have neither O Level results nor the right combination. So far, 960,700 admissions, 75 per cent of qualified candidates have been successfully conducted. The figure will rise because admission is still ongoing.”
In response to low admission records, the JAMB Registrar made reference to available data, indicating that admission quota not filled in courses and institutions majorly due to rigidity of the candidates in terms of course choice:
“However, there are some other causative factors including under-aged candidates, no O Level, wrong O Level subject combination, low post-UTME screening score, UTME combination deficiency, non-acceptance of offer due to rigidity, absent from post-UTME screening and mismatch of catchment institutions.
“We have statistics that indicated that 2, 035 out of 9, 976 candidates who scored 300 and above in the 2024 UTME chose to study Medicine and Surgery, but they could not gain admission, hence they refused to accept other courses.
“Many admission quotas are unused because of this rigidity in the choice of the candidates, suggesting that the Federal Ministry of Education encourages candidates to study other courses like education, agriculture, and technical courses by offering them scholarships and monthly stipends.”
University of Lagos (UNILAG) was appreciated for admitting about 40 candidates, while Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano and Bayero University, Kano, followed with 35 and 30 respectively.
Key decisions
One of the key decisions was the reversal of the previous decision on age limit for entry into tertiary institutions. The Minister told the gathering that 16 has been approved as the entry age into tertiary institutions in Nigeria as against what was decided in the 2024 meeting.
At the 2024 UTME exercise, the then Minister for Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, approved 18 years as entry age into tertiary institutions in line with the National Education Policy document. The decision triggered national outcry and was also keenly debated at the 2024 policy meeting. But at the end, Mamman had his way with the policy.
He said: “Being a Vice Chancellor for over seven years gave me the opportunity to see how these underage students struggle to cope in several ways whenever they are ‘prematurely’ pushed into the universities.
“At the 2024 UTME, I was alarmed at the large number of obviously under-age candidates who were participating in the examination, which necessitated the need to enforce the extant provisions of the educational policies that made provision for nine years of basic education and three years of senior secondary education before entry into tertiary institution.
“It’s clear that a child who, as expected is enrolled in basic school at the age of six, and having undergone 12 years of education would be around 18 years old when being enrolled in a tertiary institution.”
Minister, VCs clash on cut-off points
There was a clash of interest between the Minister, JAMB Registrar and the VCs, rectors and provosts, when it was time to vote on cut-off points for admission. The Minister and and Pof. Oloyede wanted a higher cut-off point, 160, different from what was decided last year. But the overwhelming voice of the stakeholders could not allow them to have their way.
Alausa and Oloyede pleaded for increase in the point but were vehemently resisted by the louder voices of the VCs, Rectors and Provosts. In the end, the choices of the stakeholders were adopted. Through a voice vote, the universities voted for 150 as a cut-off point, while polytechnics and colleges of education voted for 100, respectively.
Ideally, the institutions are contacted for their input as regards minimum cut-off point for admission into their institutions. Their inputs are harvested and presented for debate at the policy meeting for deliberations.
Oloyede explained: “The standard practice is that a few weeks to the policy meeting, institutions are contacted with a request to submit their minimum admissible scores through a dedicated channel. These inputs are collated afterwards and displayed at the policy meeting for all participants to critique and make suggestions, and take final decision on what score to adopt as minimum admissible score for the year.
“A few weeks ago, when the requests were sent to institutions for this year’s admission exercise, several institutions returned with different figures.
“It’s important to know that it’s the institutions that decide this minimum admissible scores popularly known as ‘cut off mark’ and not JAMB as being widely believed. We only endorse whatever was decided and ensure that no institution violates the agreement.”
It was also decided that October is the deadline for 2024/2025 admission exercise for public institutions. Private institutions were given November and December 2025, to conclude admission exercise.
Institutions’ concern
Some institutions, particularly privately-own ones, complained that the decisions of JAMB and the ministry as regards admissions are, most times, unfriendly to them. Vice-Chancellors of a private universities said the decision to close admission on November is not good for them because that’s when they receive most applications from candidates who are disgruntled with the process in public tertiary institutions:
“Another challenge is the cut-off mark. We unanimously resisted the high cut-off mark because of our interest. Taking the cut-off to 160 or 180 might affect our chances of getting students, and that will affect our revenue, which could ultimately affect our operations.”
A Provost of a College of Education who pleaded anonymity said she had to practically go in search of students because the admission opportunities are favourable to universities: “Our admission has continued to decline on a yearly basis, and that’s not good for us. We are often left with what universities ‘rejected. That’s why we often fight for lower cut-off points so we can convince students to come study with us.”
Admission criteria
The criteria set for admission were unanimously endorsed. JAMB said it’s saddened by the fact that despite all its advocacy efforts over the years, some candidates and their parents have not acquainted themselves with admission criteria, hence they make mistakes during UTME registration particularly in choice of institution and subject combination. This reduces their eligibility chances for admission.
JAMB appealed to parents and candidates to get acquainted with the criteria so they could improve their chances of securing admissions: “So many admission quotas/opportunities are missed annually because of ignorance.
“Candidates must, therefore, know where their chances of securing admission are high, as well as courses to apply for in such institutions to stand the chance. Prospective candidates and institutions are encouraged to study the criteria for admission so they can make the right choices, thereby increasing their chances of securing admissions.”
New rules for UTME, direct entry
Oloyede highlighted some changes and innovations in the admission system. He was particular about the strict verification of certificates for Direct Entry (DE) candidates and strict compliance with the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS). He advised heads of institutions and admission officers to get acquainted with the new rules:
“Nigerian Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (NIPEDS) has been introduced to assist in identifying fake A’ Level results. Hundreds of fake A-level results have been identified in the application of verification for direct entry admissions.
“Admission exercise will be conducted on CAPS. No institution is permitted to publish, announce, exhibit or paste any name(s) of admitted candidates without prior approval of the name on CAPS. No offer of admission should be communicated to any candidate through any other means except CAPS unless the candidate has been initially approved for admission on CAPS.
“Also, individual institution’s websites/platforms can publish admission already approved on CAPS. Similarly, no candidate can be registered for any course other than the one he/she had been offered and accepted on CAPS.
“National Identification Number (NIN) has come to stay. It has been able to reduce the cases of age falsification, impersonation and other examination related crimes.”
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