The Nigerian Senate says it is considering the amendment of the law establishing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to make 18 years the minimum age for candidates writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Akon Eyakenyi, said this during the committee’s oversight visit to JAMB on Monday.
Eyakenyi noted that persons below 18 years of age should not be admitted into the university explaining that age has a lot to do with learning ability.
He said the committee had identified two major areas to be addressed in the proposed amendment for the exam body to function better.
The senator, who stressed the importance of education to the development and future of Nigeria, said described JAMB as a bridge between the secondary and the university. She said the agency was a necessary vehicle for the delivery of quality and standard education in Nigeria.
READ ALSO: Senate Rejects Lauretta Onochie As INEC Commissioner
The committee also commended the board for the smooth conduct of the 2021 UTME but queried why JAMB had almost 100 percent performance of its 2020 budget and over N500 million devoted to staff welfare apart from their regular salaries.
Responding, JAMB registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, told the committee that the board does not have powers to disqualify any candidate on the basis of age, stating that individual institutions can decide on who to admit as is the case with the University of Ibadan which does not admit candidates below 16 years.
Oloyede explained that the budget of the board was only 75 percent implemented as the government issued a directive that 25 percent of funds budgeted should be returned to the federation account.
He said staff of the board was properly incentivised to avoid the temptation of colluding with fraudsters to commit malpractice while conducting its exercises across the country, stating that part of the expenses was on their local travels, transportation, and allowances.
The registrar also informed that the board recorded only 40 cases of malpractices in the 2021 UTME as against the over 4,000 recorded in the previous year.
Oloyede said the introduction of the National Identification Number (NIN) in UTME registration successfully flushed out ‘fake people ‘ from the exam process as well as curtailed malpractices.
The JAMB boss said the Board would not hesitate to withdraw the results of candidates involved in malpractice after thorough viewing of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras deployed for the exam.
