FACTS you have to know about POST-UTME

Amatareotubo (2006) describes how the federal government of Nigeria introduced the policy of Post-JAMB screening by universities in 2005, through the Minister of Education, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji. This policy made it mandatory for all tertiary institutions to screen candidates after their JAMB results and before giving admission. Candidates with a score of 200 and above would be shortlisted by JAMB and their names and scores sent to their universities of choice which would screen again using aptitude tests, oral interviews, or even another examination. Obaji asserts that some candidates scored 280 and above in JAMB but could not score 20 percent in the post-JAMB examination, believing that those students must have cheated on their JAMB examinations and could not pass the Post-JAMB examination because there was no way to cheat.

Scholars have argued for and against the Post-Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) in Nigerian universities. Sobechi (2008) quotes the Vice-Chancellor of Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Professor Fidelis Ogah, as saying that he had refused to bow to pressure to conduct Post-UME tests because most institutions have turned it to a goldmine. Ogah alleged that most Nigerian universities that conduct Post-UME do so primarily to wring money from rich parents, whose children could not be admitted using JAMB results. Ogah stated that he had ignored pressure to conduct the test, pointing out that if he lacked confidence in the credibility of JAMB, he would lack confidence in a post-UME examination as well.

Similarly, during the 33rd and 34th convocation ceremony of the University of Benin, President Musa Yar'Adua of Nigeria, through the Director of Tertiary Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Emmanuel Okon, remarked that the PUME may be cancelled if complaints against its conduct by students, parents, and guardians persist (Aliu 2008).

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the statutory body assigned to conduct admission examinations, and the National Universities Commission (NUC) have been directed to streamline Post-UME screening in order to avoid government intervention and the elimination of Post-UME screening. The (then) JAMB Registrar, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, also lamented that universities have turned the UME screening into a money-making venture, as reported by Badmus and Idoko (2008). The House of Representatives Committee on Education in their oversight visits to educational agencies learned that universities had turned the screening of students seeking admission into a money-making venture. To stem the trend, the Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Farouk Lawan, suggested the need to call a stakeholders' meeting on the issue.