Post-UTME: Varsities deviated from 2004 agreement- Okebukola

Former Executive Secretary, National
Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Peter
Okebukola has said that Nigerian universities
deviated from the initial agreement NUC had
with Vice-Chancellors in 2004 when it
introduced post-UTME to screen candidates via
oral interview and written essay. Just as the
Deputy Director, Distance Learning Centre,
University of Ibadan, UI, Professor Oyesoji
Akanmi also stated that scrapping post-UTME is
against the university autonomy, saying, ‘’ The
development will place admission burden on
the 40 federal universities."

Though many stakeholders who spoke with
Vanguard expressed joy with the scrapping of
post-UTME, some others have reservations,
adding that it will not address the problem of
admission deficit encounter yearly. Okebukola
who was the Executive Secretary NUC when post-
UTME was introduced in 2004, said that it was a
tough battle fought under the leadership of
Professor Chinwe Obaji as Minister of Education
to get approval.

While expatiating on reasons for the introduction
of post-UTME in 2014, he explained that the
NUC and the vice-chancellors discovered that
more than ever before, they needed to admit
into the universities, secondary school leavers
who have at least two characteristics.

Cognitive competence
The first characteristic, he noted, is to ensure
that admission seekers attain minimum cognitive
competence in the relevant subjects in the
discipline they wish to study. The second was to
test their competence in written and oral
English, critical thinking and ability to present
ideas in a logical sequence befitting of
undergraduates in Africa’s most-expansive and
well-regarded university system.

‘’JAMB’s UTME targets only the first characteristic;
while the university-level screening should
measure the second,’’ he said. He, however said:

‘’We got the blessing of President Olusegun
Obasanjo and the National Assembly to do the
following: (a) maximum charge to candidates for
the exercise should be one thousand naira, (b)
candidates should be screened not with the kind
of test used by JAMB but through other
mechanisms.

The screening, he noted was agreed upon by all
vice-chancellors to be through oral interview and
essay which JAMB assessment does not cover,
adding: ‘’Up till about 2009, these guidelines
were largely followed leading us to get very good
quality candidates for our universities.’’

According to him, since 2010, both guidelines
were ditched by most universities, stressing that
universities were conducting the same tests as
JAMB, charging at least five times the agreed-
cost and not conducting oral interviews and essay
screening.

Intuitive sense
The goal of the post-UTME, he explained, shifted
from selection of the best candidates to using
post-UTME to make money. ‘’Since universities
have derailed, it makes intuitive sense to close
the post-UTME shop,’’ he added. The former
Scribe expressed joy in the scrapping of post-
UTME, adding that it now takes the universities
system back to the original model of post-UME
which NUC initiated in 2004 while he was
serving as Executive Secretary.

Meanwhile, in his reaction, the Deputy Director,
Distance Learning Centre, Prof Oyesoji Aremu
said that scrapping post-UTME would not address
the problem of access to the universities, but
will rather place admission burden on federal
universities.

According to him, scrapping post-UTME would
place more burden on the 40 federal
universities, adding that more than 80% of
candidates yearly make federal universities like
University of Ibadan, University of Lagos,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello
University, University of Benin, and University of
Nigeria, Nsuka their first choice.
Quality assurance.

He warned that if candidates are forced on the
universities, it will make a mockery of the
expected quality assurance which the policy of
Post-UTME is all about. While lamenting the
scrapping of post-UTME which he noted negates
the question of university autonomy, he
explained that the Ministry of Education through
its agency, National University Commission
regulates the universities, adding, ‘’university
autonomy especially in federal Universities is a
function of University Senate and each
Governing Council.

‘’Thus, determination of admission policy
(including Post-UTME), regulation of academic
activities among other activities, are functions of
Universities’ Senates and not that of the Ministry
of Education,’’ he said. Prior to Post-UTME, he
noted that most federal universities have been
conducting another layer of assessment of
candidates in form of interview and interaction.

This, according to him is to ensure Quality
Assurance given the fact that UTME has been
compromised in terms of quality of the
candidates who seek admission.

His words: ‘’The scrapping of post-UTME would
also unsettle the candidates and their parents
emotionally and in some, give false illusion that
they can get admission with 180 Cut-off Mark, a
benchmark that is practically impossible given
the huge number of applicants.

In proffering a solution, Aremu disclosed that
the way out is for the Ministry of Education,
through NUC, to call a stakeholders meeting to
re-appraise the problem of access to admission.

He said: ‘’University admission should be
deregulated. It should be a question of quality of
education provided by each University.

Government should also re-evaluate JAMB with
a view to making the body and its evaluation
interventions much more acceptable to the end
users. Open access to education through Distance
Education should also be re-invigorated and less
discriminatory."