Point system not criteria for admission, says JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says the point system copied from its website as criteria for admission into tertiary institutions in the country and currently circulating is a mere illustration.

The board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, made this known in statement on Sunday.

Quoting the News Agency of Nigeria , the board said on the contrary, the Federal Government had approved the re-enforcement of admission guidelines as recognised by law.

According to the statement, the admission of candidates into tertiary institutions will be based purely on three pillars: merit, catchment and educationally-less developed states.

It said that the board’s Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, used the point system, wrongfully copied from the board’s website and currently being circulated by some media, for illustration.

“Sequel to the recent workshop convened by the Minister of Education on the modality for 2016 admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the Federal Government approved the re-enforcement of admissions guideline recognised by law.

“This is following the cancellation of the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

“This is not the point system as widely circulated in some media.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the board wishes to state clearly that the point system is an illustration by the Registrar of JAMB.

“It is to demonstrate how a few institutions were using the point system to select candidates while some of their counterparts were subjecting candidates to written tests.

“The illustrations are contained in a paper presented by the registrar and placed on our website and was adopted by the media wrongly as the 2016 guidelines for admission,” the statement said.

It added that this year’s admissions would be on merit, catchment area and educationally-less developed states through the following process.

According to the statement, firstly, a list of candidates who qualified for screening into individual institutions based on the three stipulated criteria will be presented.

It added that such screening did not require another test in any form, written, oral or electronic.

According to the statement, candidates are to present their Senior School Certificate Examination results/Advanced Level results for verification and clearing purposes.