The senator from Ebonyi North, Onyeka Nwebonyi, made a motion at Wednesday’s plenary that prompted the Senate to look into claims of admission racketeering in colleges across the nation.
The Red Chamber further requested that its pertinent committees call a meeting with Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, and Prof. Charles Igwe, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria.
In his motion, Nwebonyi claimed that university employees colluded with JAMB authorities to engage in unethical behavior in order to benefit financially.
The Unified postsecondary Matriculation Examination is administered by JAMB, a governmental authority, in order to determine admission to all universities, polytechnics, institutes of education, and other postsecondary institutions in Nigeria.
The Red Chamber also instructed its Committees on Ethics, Privileges, Public Petitions, and Tertiary Institutions and the Tertiary Education Fund to look into the claims of admission fraud in tertiary institutions.
According to Nwebonyi, tertiary institution administrators have gone back to offering provisional admissions into prestigious professional courses like medicine and surgery, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing science in order to shortchange some students who have already been offered admissions in exchange for satisfaction. This practice has been adopted in collaboration with some JAMB officials.
He said,
” One Miss Chinyere Ekwe and 290 others were admitted to study Medicine and Surgery at the University of Nigeria Nsukka but had their admissions truncated on the order of JAMB for no plausible reason after they had completed the admission processes and resumed lectures.
“Miss Ekwe, in particular, scored 291 in the 2019 UTME and 300 in the university’s post-UTME, which qualified her for the course and was subsequently admitted by the university.
“The said Chinyere Ekwe was transferred to the Department of Medical Laboratory Science on the ground that if her cumulative grade point was up to 4.5 points after the first year, she would be transferred back to medicine and surgery.
“However, although she surpassed the 4.5 threshold, her admission status is still not yet certain whether she is duly admitted to the Department of Medicine and Surgery or Medical Laboratory Science.
“The provisional admission practice is being used as a malicious tool to exploit and frustrate intelligent young Nigerians who are children and wards of ordinary people who seek admission into Nigerian universities.”
Such unwholesome practices, he added, put the country’s educational system in jeopardy, and cause apathy on the side of ordinary Nigerians.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in his remarks, stressed the need to give a fair hearing to the accused parties, saying JAMB and UNN were known to be reputable institutions.
He said,
“We are shaving a man’s head behind his back. The University of Nigeria has a reputation that spans decades and is respected internationally. And JAMB has its own reputation.
“So discussing and particularising it could tend to give the international community the impression l that something is questionable about the certificate from the University of Nigeria which we all respect. It has given birth to so many universities including the one I went to which is the University of Calabar.
“Let the other side be heard, so that we can do a holistic job and even invite the Minister of Education to find out whether this kind of practice is occurring in the tertiary institutions. So let us do a holistic job. It is important we correct any wrong that we see.”