Varsities Admission: Frustration, anger set in as students, parents react

Bimpe, 21, sat fuming and brooding over her several attempts at writing JAMB. She mumbled some words explaining that her mates were about to graduate from the university and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Her mum came immediately and gave her soothing words.

Bimpe had every reason to feel bad since she believed that her ambition and dream of becoming somebody in life is being threathened by the JAMB and the Post-UTME.  According to her, the problem was not much of passing JAMB but the Post-UTME she had written severally, with conviction that she had done well but had her hope dashed by some factors  called admission discripancies that have been going on in most of the universities.

One of the challenges noted by prospective students is scaling through the JAMB examination hurdle and obtaining the required cut off mark of a particular university for admission.

Therefore, some students in collaboration with  their parents were employing various means such as special centres, proxy arrangements, concealing calculators and aiding materials and other cheating materials in their private parts, shoes, among other hidden places and payment of huge sums of money to officials who aid them in the act.

But inspite of all these, the results of 2012  Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB and released recently have shown that only 10 percent out of the 110,724 scored above the cut-off mark of 170 in the core subjects including English language, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geography.

The 2012 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) had 72, 243 candidates scoring 250 and above while 336,330 scored below 170. Over 1.5million wrote the 2012 JAMB exams. This also meant that the admission examination body has made not less than N7.5billion on the sale of forms alone outside other areas prospective students had been made to pay.

The matter is made worse by the process of different Post-UTME in various schools.  Although many would argue that the screening exercise by the body presents the opportunity of correcting the accumulated malpractices from the secondary schools up to the JAMB exam, the Post-UTME which came in, amid protests from JAMB itself has not helped matters. Parents are made to pay so much at this level again to get admission.

A source told Saturday Vanguard that even after passing the Post-UTME, admission is not guranteed. “Admission is not for the poor in that candidates are made to pay huge sums of money to procure admission ranging from N80,000 to N100,000 ,” the source said.

The children and wards of the moneyed class are the ones benefitting from the admission racket in Nigeria.   It is worrisome that students seeking admission into universities are exploited and sometimes given phony admission, with which they defraud their parents and waste away their lives while  some naive parents and guardians cut corners for their children to gain admission into universities through monetary inducements.

Corroborating this view, Kingsley Alakija 20, who made the cut-off mark wrote the Post-UTME last year and had his name listed among the successful candidates.  But his jubilation was cut short few days later when he discovered to his chargrin that his name was conspicously missing in the list.

He quickly approached somebody for help and he was told to provide some unspecified amount of money immediately.  Alakija missed the opportunity to study Economics in the institution as his poor parents, a taxi-driver and petty trader mother ran helter skelter without success to get the money.

He observed that bigwigs and moneyed class would lobby and procure admission meant for those who wrote and passed the examination.  Saturday Vanguard also heard about concessional admission which reigns in some of the universities.  A source hinted  that by this, some bodies and the bigwigs in the society often request Vice-Chancellors for concessional admission .

Again, huge sums of money are being realised from the sale of forms and admission process in various schools.  Part of these are the huge sums  paid in order to procure admission, scratch cards and the N10,000 acceptance form fee successful candidates are made to pay amongst others.

Yet, only less than 33 per cent of those who seek admission into various universities gain admission yearly.  Unfortunately, the poor ones could not afford the exhorbitant special centres or the huge sums of money for post-UTME rackets.  Yet, the system pretends as if the admission cankerworm has defied all logics.

The same story was told by Ayoola Olajide, 18, whose ambition to study Accounting in one of the universities in the South West was scuttled.  He told Saturday Vanguard that JAMB and Post UTME are threats to the attainment of his ambition.

“This is my third attempt at JAMB. Last year, I made the cut-off mark but could not get admission after the Post-UTME and now my result is being withheld. There are serious problems in our education system and the youths are those who suffer for it. For how long would I continue like this?” Olajide lamented.

It was more frustrating for Okunola Taiwo who told Saturday Vanguard that the inability of her parents to pay the huge sum of money demanded by the state university was responsible for forfeiting her admission into the school. “It is really frustrating, I don’t know what to do.

I eventually made the JAMB and Post-UTME last year for admission into a University in Lagos . I made the cut-off mark last year and passed  Post-UTME Exams . I was offered admission to study Law but I couldn’t go because my parents could not afford the new fee of N300,000.” She lamented that after three attempts, her parents have spent so much money adding that at the moment , she would have to defer her admission or apply to other schools .

“My parents can’t afford N300,000. I have siblings and they will have to go to school as well. I will have to apply to federal schools again,” Taiwo stated.

Hassan Dauda whose two children are battling to secure university admission said he has resigned himself to fate. He stated that Hassan Olamide Dauda had his second attempt in JAMB and now, he score 241 but will have to battle the Post-UTME just as Olayemi Abosede Dauda’s future will also have to be decided by the same fate.

“The first child chose university of Ibadan while the second chose University of Ilorin; and Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Ibadan as their first and second choices. For me, finance will not be the problem because the fees are affordable. It is a federal school and it is well recognised and I have confidence in those schools. University of Ilorin doesn’t go on strike.

“I’m optimistic that they will pass their Post-UTME. But, if they don’t do well, they will have to wait for another year.

“I don’t like state universities because they can wake-up one morning and jerk up the fees just like LASU has done. We will suffer from discrepancies in the admission process and yet still pay heavily with threats of academic interruptions as a result of strike actions. It is appalling. Education in Nigeria is nothing to talk about. We are still far below average. Government should encourage parents and students in their quests.”

Fatima’s dream of studying medicine in the university still remains unrealised as she got to know she did not make the cut-off mark .

“I tried my best and studied hard for the exams but all efforts were to no avail. I wouldn’t know if there are forces behind it or something. I sat for the exams and also for Post-UTME exams. I had good results but my name was conspicuously missing in the list of successful candidates for admission.”

More people also revealed that negative marking by  JAMB is another factor that is crippling the system and denying students from going to  schools of their dreams.

They do it yearly so as to cut down the number of eligible students and to accommodate the carrying capacities of various universities. Saturday Vanguard gathered that the carrying capacities of universities in Nigeria put together is not above 500,000 while over 1million students apply for admission yearly in various universities in the country.

Joshua, a 100 level student of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, lamented that his dream of studying at University of Lagos came to naught merely because of Post-UTME saga. He stated that he wanted to remain in Lagos in order to get a part-time work  to raise money for his studies since he had nobody to sponsor his education. He also stated that he could not afford other state universities especially LASU which has recently jerked up  tuition fee by more than 500 per cent.

According to him, “I sat for the post UTME exams twice but was denied admission. I wrote examination in 2008 and 2010. I was prepared for the exam. I wrote my Post-UTME twice in a University in Lagos,  but the truth is that the Nigerian education factor didn’t allow me into the  school of my choice. And for anyone who wants a hitch free admission, such person must have a strong connection with the school management or part with a huge sum of money. I scored the highest mark in my Post-UTME but I wasn’t given admission.

“I later applied to Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, to study English Education, and I knew what I passed through all in a bid to get university education,” he stated.

For Rachael, her first time in writing JAMB examination revealed a lot of misdemeanor among desperate students and authorities who wanted to make money.

“There is no sincerity in the education system in Nigeria. Both students and examination supervisors were involved in malpractices. Some students didn’t study for the examination because they were ready for examination malpractices. I chose University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAID). I got up to the cut-off mark but was denied admission. I don’t know the basis for writing Post-UTME. If it is that necessary, then JAMB should be scrapped.”

Many people share the opinion of Rachael, querying the rationale behind post-UTME when  JAMB is established by law to carry out admission examination into the tertiary institutions in the country.Some parents who favoured  that line of argument urged the federal government and the lawmakers to out-law post-UTME and strengthen JAMB to conduct admission examinations.

“By experience, students always dread the post-UTME hurdles not because it is tougher but because of the corruption and man-know-man dimension it had turned to,” said Lekan Aderibigbe, a parent whose child could not secure admission after the post-UTME.

His  child had 196 and the university she chose was Akangba, in Ado Ekiti and “I didn’t like the school because it is a state university and anything can come up anytime. The state government might decide to increase the fees and nobody will complain. They can take decision on their own based on their state.

For instance, the Ladoke Akintola University’s fee was inflated by the then Governor Alao Akala and when the present government came on board, the fees was reduced, and the same can be inflated by another government. That is why I said a state university is not the best especially for  average parents. That is why I am insisting that my children should choose federal universities.”