Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, has said that 366,000 out of the 867,000 candidates who made cut -off points of 180 and above in the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) would not be admitted in the nation’s tertiary institution because of lack of sufficient places.
He also disclosed that candidates did not apply for admission in some of the institutions, especially private- owned institutions as a result of the high fees charged in such schools.
Ojerinde, who described this year’s admission into tertiary institutions as the “survival of the fittest”, said the total space available for admission in the tertiary institutions is just about 527,000.
Speaking in an interview during the combined technical committee meeting on admission to degree-awarding institutions, National Diploma (ND), Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) and National Innovation Diploma (NID) awarding institutions which held at the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Ojerinde said except access to tertiary institutions is increased, “we will continue to have this lot of people waiting endlessly for admission”.
He said the committee was meeting to select the first set of candidates into tertiary institutions, adding that most of the institutions attended the meeting and were ready with their lists to rectify them.
He explained further that the Panel Secretary and the Chairman will meet on the lists and decide whether the candidates have met the set criteria for admission or not, adding that once they meet the set criteria, by next week, the name of such candidates should be on the internet as those who have gotten admission.
“With this 180 cut-off points, we have about 867,000 candidates who made 180 and above, and yet the available space is just about 527,000, so the remaining 366,000 candidates will have no place to go. That is the point, except access to tertiary institutions is increased; we will continue to have this lot of people waiting endlessly for admission..
“One of the beauty of this UTME is that we have brought them together and we are saying that they can go to any institution. If university doesn’t work, college of education may work, if not polytechnics or monotechnics may work. But I am not saying that it is to be for everybody because the spaces available are still not sufficient, ” he said.
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