Admission crisis worsens as candidates, parents confront UNILAG

High number of candidates forces top universities to adopt very high cut-off marks, reports CHARLES ABAH, who witnessed a stakeholders’ protest at the University of Lagos on Wednesday The President, Association of Tutorial School Owners of Nigeria, Mr. Sodunke Oludotun, looked agitated on Wednesday morning as he led hundreds of parents and candidates to storm the gate of the University of Lagos. The expression on his face showed a man who carried a heavy burden on his shoulders. ‘Despondency’ and ‘dejection’ were two of the words that could aptly capture the way he felt. Even with the cool breezy weather in Lagos on Wednesday morning, the ATSO helmsman still sweated profusely. Dabbing his face with several handkerchiefs, he declared, “I wonder where this nation is heading for. How can one explain the fact that the Federal Government will make one pronouncement today and the next day, one of its agencies jettisons the directive? How can you explain that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, two weeks ago, rolled out the cut-off marks for the 2015/2016 admission, only for parents and candidates to face rejection in schools?”

Oludotun is not alone in the community of people who demonstrated this seeming hopelessness. Ekiti State-born Ifeoluwatayo Martins, who wants to study Law at the university, was in a similar dilemma. In fact, the youngster faced a bigger predicament. He could not comprehend how, having scored 233 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, he would not be allowed to sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG. He lamented, “Uncle, I cannot understand this. Do you know that I visited a cybercafé more than 15 times yesterday (Tuesday) trying to download information from the UNILAG website on my post-UTME status, all to no avail? For the many occasions that I tried it, I could not access the portal. I tell you, it got to a level where I felt that the UNILAG admission link – admissions.unilag.edu.ng – looked like a fake one to me.” Indeed, the story of Oludotun and Martins are a microcosm of the hopelessness witnessed at the gate of the 53-year-old citadel of learning on Wednesday morning. As early as 7am, many parents and children had converged on the gate of the university to protest against a policy, which they claimed would frustrate many candidates seeking admission to the nation’s universities this year. According to them, the authorities of JAMB will use UNILAG as well as five other old generation universities to further exploit and frustrate candidates seeking university admission this year. The other universities are Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; the University of Ibadan; the University of Benin; the University of Ilorin; and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Oludotun, who led the protest, particularly noted that of the more than 33,000 candidates that applied to study at UNILAG this year, only about 9,000 candidates had been shortlisted to sit for the post-UTME. However, findings from JAMB’s 2015/2016 admission document showed that 62,473 candidates applied to the university this year. Oludotun queried, “What is the fate of the remaining 24,000 candidates who applied to study in the university this year? Why has JAMB, all of a sudden, decided to change the directive it released barely two weeks ago? What we hear now is that if a candidate does not score up to 250 marks, s/he cannot sit for the post-UTME at UNILAG. “I suspect something fishy. I have a feeling that the JAMB Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, wants to use this platform to satisfy the whims and caprices of his cohorts, especially those operating private universities in the country. “You know many of these private universities are not getting enough candidates. So, he wants to force parents and their children to go to these universities. This cannot work. The board cannot force any candidate to attend any university that he/she does not want. The issue of admission borders on choice and I believe, and strongly too, that individuals should be allowed to make their choices.” In fact, the tone of the protest at UNILAG, which lasted for almost four hours, conveyed this sense of disillusionment. It also mirrored their “feeling” about the Ojerinde-led admission body. While many of the protesters sang anti-JAMB songs and lyrics, others displayed placards that painted the nation’s admission ombudsman as a man that has no feeling for candidates. Some of the placards read, “Why is JAMB posting candidates from six federal universities to private universities without the candidates’ consent?” and “No PDP policy again, Buhari save us.” Others include “UNILAG VC, save us from Dibu”, ‘’Wow! With 250, we cannot sit for post-UTME, incredible’’; “Dibu must go” and “Dibu, don’t toy with our destiny.” But even as the protest and the songs of solidarity went on, some of the candidates who had surfed the Internet gathered adjacent the UNILAG gate bemoaning their fate. For instance, while Abigail Oluwadamilola and Edu-Uthman Adeniyi, who scored 203 and 204 respectively, were at a corner weeping and narrating the uncertainty that befell them, a parent, Mr. Idowu Adewale, drew the attention of our correspondent to other candidates who scored above 250 but could not access the UNILAG’s qualifying form. In fact, Oluwadamilola applied to study Accountancy, while Adeniyi applied to study Insurance. For Adewale, there is no justification for this arbitrariness. Questioning the rationale for upping the cut-off marks from 180 to 250, Adewale urged the Buhari-led administration to intervene urgently in the matter. According to him, JAMB’s recent policies are not only destructive but also inimical to the growth of university education in the country. Adewale alleged that his relations who visited UNILAG on Tuesday to download and print their “payment advice” could not do so, as JAMB reportedly did not forward their names to the university. He added, “Many candidates could not print their payment advice from the bank to access the UNILAG post-UTME form. Without this form, they cannot do anything, as it empowers them to sit for the qualifying examination. “Again, the implication is that such candidates will have to stay at home for another year due to no fault of theirs. We, therefore, demand equality in this matter. There is need to give all candidates equal playing ground to test their abilities. JAMB announced 150 cut-off marks for polytechnics and colleges of education and 180 for intending university candidates. Why change the goal post mid-way into the game? “UNILAG needs to throw open the opportunity. Otherwise, no less than 24, 000 candidates will be unable to sit for this post-UTME in the university.” Adewale, who also accused the examining body of making candidates to buy change of institutions form for N4, 500 two months ago, noted that parents and the leadership of ATSO were planning to drag JAMB to court. Don’t blame UNILAG – Registrar However, the UNILAG Registrar, Dr. Taiwo Ipaye, told our correspondent that the university should not be blamed for the development.

According to her, JAMB determines the eligibility of post-UTME screening to the nation’s universities, including UNILAG, and so the university can only work with data from the body. Ipaye, who confirmed that many candidates applied to study in the university this year, noted that the examining body had forwarded the details of 9,000 candidates for the post-UTME exercise. Beyond the registrar’s clarification, authorities of the university, in a statement on Wednesday, absolved themselves of blame. Part of the statement entitled, ‘Important Notice on New Policy on Eligibility of Candidates for the 2015/2016 Admission Exercise’ read, “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board at its Combined Policy Meeting held on July 14, 2015 in Abuja, announced the adoption of a policy whereby candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Matriculation Examinations are reassigned to other universities with lower numbers of candidates than their capacities. “According to the Registrar/CEO of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the policy portends two benefits: (1) It will be beneficial to ‘needy universities’, that is universities with lower numbers of candidates, than their capacities, as this will ensure that these universities will have more candidates to admit. (2) Candidates will have better chances for admission in the universities they are re-assigned to, contrary to situations where they would await admission in the universities of their first choices until the admission exercise closes and they forfeit admission in that session. “This policy has been implemented with immediate effect. Consequently, the eligibility for post-UTME screening in the University of Lagos, like other universities in Nigeria, has been determined by JAMB. In effect, only candidates whose names were forwarded to the university by JAMB are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME screening. “This means that only candidates whose details have been forwarded to the university by JAMB and published on admission.unilag.edu.ng are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME screening. “Ineligible candidates would have been re-assigned by JAMB to other universities. Such candidates should contact JAMB for assistance.” We can’t take 180 as cut-off mark – OAU The Public Relations Officer of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, has said that the institution cannot adopt the JAMB’s cut-off mark of 180.