Information reaching us confirms that the
Federal Government of Nigeria has
directed the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB) to delete all
specialized courses or programmes being
offered by universities of technologies and
universities of agriculture from its portal.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu
Adamu who gave the directive in a
statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by
JAMB’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian
Benjamin also directed these specialized
universities to stick to their core
mandates which they were set up to carry
and desist from running programmes
which had no bearing to their foundation.
The government, which stated that it had
observed that some of these universities
of agriculture and technology had derailed
from its responsibilities by running some
of the programmes they are not created
for, warned candidates billed to seat for
this year’s unified tertiary matriculation
examination (UTME not to be deceived
into choosing such programmes as they
are illegal and are not provided for in the
brochure.
The statement reads: “Government notes
the unfortunate situation were Universities
of Agriculture offer programmes in Law,
Management courses such as Accounting,
Banking and Finance, Business
Adminsitration among others. As if that
was not enough some institutions change
the nomenclature of some of the courses
to read for instance Banking Engineering,
Accounting Technology, among other
names. This is an aberration and should
be stopped with immediate effect.
“Specialized Universities are University set
up to pursue specific courses/
programmes to steer the need of
manpower in a particular sector of the
economy. Some of these specialized
institutions include Universities such as
Universities of Agriculture, Universities of
Technologies, Universities of Medicine,
amongst others. The Federal government
has observed that these institutions have
derailed from their statutory responsibility
thereby running programmes that are
antithetical to their mandates.
“In view of this ugly development, the Hon
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu
Adamu, has directed the Joint Admissions
and Matriculation Board to delete all such
courses on its portal and all candidates
desirous of sitting for the 2017
Universities Tertiary Matriculations
Examination are advised not to be
hoodwinked into such programmes as
they are illegal and are not provided for in
our brochure.”
Meanwhile, JAMB said it has not started
the sale of 2017 UTME forms as it is
being alleged.
The board, which urged candidates to
exercise patience, said the delay in selling
the form is due to its desire to reduce the
challenges associated with the conduct of
the examination.
“Again the Board will want to state that it
has not commenced the sales of the 2017
UTME application documents. Candidates
are urged to exercise patience as JAMB is
putting final preparations towards
commencing the sales.
“The delay has been occasioned by the
Board’s desire to reduce to the barest
minimum challenges associated with the
conduct of the Board’s examination.
However, in the final analysis, Nigerians
should note that admissions will be
conducted within the stipulated dateline.
“In view of the above, candidates and
parents are advised not to pay money to
any agent, bank for any registration as
JAMB has not and will not appoint any
agent. Soon, we will commence the sales
and the Board will make elaborate
announcement with jingles to ensure that
the public is well informed of the
commencement of sales. Our earnest
attempt is to come near perfection in the
conduct of the next examination and we
plead with the public to support the
Board’s effort in ensuring that the
Nigerian candidate gets the best,” the
statement added.
