Elder statesman and lawyer, Aare Afe
Babalola (SAN) has described the
scrapping of the post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (post-
UTME, otherwise called post-JAMB) by
the Federal Government as a
“calamitous mistake.”
The founder of Afe Babalola
University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), said
he was “more than shocked by the
announcement” from the Minster of
Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu,
that post-UTME as part of the
qualifying procedure for admission
into Nigerian universities, has now
been cancelled.
On governance, he called for a return
to regionalism and parliamentary
system of government, saying for
Nigeria to come out of its myriads of
socio-political and economic
problems, it needs a restructuring
that would make the regions stronger
and control their resources.
Babalola, who was in the vanguard of
those who canvassed for the
qualifying examinations as the Pro-
Chancellor of the University of Lagos,
said: “This, to me, is nothing but a
most calamitous mistake, which poses
danger and an irreversible adverse
effect on the quality of education in
this country.”
He said he was particularly surprised
and worried that such a far-reaching
decision could be taken without due
and adequate consideration for how
the concept of the post- UTME came
into being.
“It is rather unfortunate that
human memory is very short. In
2003, it was discovered by
university administrators in this
country that many of the students
admitted into Nigerian universities
through JAMB were not only
academically deficient, they could
also not justify the high marks
scored in JAMB examinations.
“Cases abound whereby JAMB
examination papers were being
openly compromised and sold to
students at examination centers,
while some examination centers,
mischievously dubbed miracle
centres, were openly, but
unofficially designed to guarantee
high marks for some candidates.
“The most pathetic aspect of this
perfidy is that we later found out
that most of these students with
such high marks were unable to
cope academically upon their being
admitted to the universities.”
He added:-
“It was at this point of this national
embarrassment that the Committee
of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian
Universities, under my
chairmanship, met in Abuja, x-
rayed the cankerworm and
recommended to former President
Olusegun Obasanjo that JAMB
should be scrapped, because the
integrity of its examinations has
been called to question.
“I must stress at this point that the
introduction of post-UTME was not
decided by the Committee of Pro-
Chancellors of Nigerian Universities
alone; the matter was thrown open,
with contributions from
stakeholders and interested and
concerned members of the different
strata of society.
“However, government in its
wisdom, decided to adopt a middle-
way approach to the matter by
saying that JAMB should continue to
be and conduct its business of
qualifying examinations to tertiary
institutions in Nigeria, while post-
UTME should be introduced.
“This translates to the fact that
JAMB will be used as the basis for
admission into Nigerian
universities, but the universities are
free to conduct screening exercises,
which include administering
questions in relevant courses, for
their would-be students.”
According to him: “The post-UTME
had proved to be a veritable quality
control measure, which I believed
had been working and working
well.
“For example, the first post-UTME
we conducted at the University of
Lagos, where I was then the Pro-
Chancellor and Chairman of
Council, yielded positive dividends.
“There was this student with a very
impressive result, who applied to
study Law. Since English Literature
was and still central to the
admission of students to study Law,
he was asked if he knew a novel
called Things Fall Apart and he
answered in the affirmative. We
then asked him if he knew the
author.
“The hall was filled with
consternation when the young man
named the late Gen. Sanni Abacha
as the author of Things Fall Apart.
“With the above scenario, it became
crystal clear that Nigerian
universities were no places
candidates should come to with
compromised and procured results.
“Post UTME is a shield that expose
students who passess Jamb by
Magic.. This development will sure
boost the number of Unemployment
in Nigeria”.
