Senate President David Mark Cautions JAMB On Unmerited Admissions
Senate President, David Mark, has advised the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to give admissions only to qualified candidates seeking entry into the nation’s universities.
Mark, who made the suggestion while commissioning the new zonal office of JAMB in Makurdi, decried the let-my-people-go syndrome. He said the trend must stop in order to boost standards in tertiary education.
If Nigeria must move forward, Mark said, its universities must be sanitised to produce graduates that would make the nation proud.
He called on stakeholders in Primary and Secondary schools to take a cue from JAMB to ensure that good foundation is laid.
He also commended the Federal Ministry of Education and JAMB for developing the synergy, which led to the establishment of the organisation’s zonal offices.
Mark lamented that Nigeria, which used to be rated high in tertiary education, can no longer boast of having a university in the group of 250 renowned institutions in the world.
He commended the Benue State government for processing the allocation of land for JAMB’s zonal office within a year. .
Earlier, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufai, said JAMB has decided to establish zonal offices across the country to bring its services closer to the people.
She noted that Benue State has the third lowest out-of- school children in the North Central geopolitical zone and appealed to Nigerians to support the drive for increase in Primary school enrollment.
Benue State Deputy Governor, Chief Steven Lawani, who represented Governor Gabriel Suswam, said JAMB has continued to win the confidence of the people, adding that computerisation has helped to reduce malpractices in the conduct of the organisation’s examination.
Lawani promised continued cooperation and support for JAMB as well as other federal agencies in the state within available resources.             .
Registrar and chief executive of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, had, in a welcome address, said 600 candidates sat for computer-based examinations in Makurdi with 70 of them coming from the crisis-ridden area of Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.
