By Chika Nwachukwu
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has refuted the allegations by some candidates and their parents over denial of admission despite their “high scores” in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
Spokesperson of the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in a statement, disclosed that one of the most recent cases was that of Mr Godwin Nsan, who publicly accused the University of Calabar of unjust handling of his son’s admission.
“He had protested in writing to JAMB, but was unwilling to provide the requested details to establish his case despite pleas from the board.
“When he eventually provided the details after he had unduly castigated the university in the media, it was discovered that the score (ranking) of the child who scored 201 in UTME and whose aggregate score was 34% percent fell below the 55 percent; and 35 percent which were for Merit; Catchment and ELDS respectively,” the statement said.
It noted that to help mitigate such misunderstandings, JAMB had implemented a robust communication system — the Ticketing Platform — where candidates and their guardians can seek clarification before airing grievances publicly.
“As a regulatory body, JAMB is committed to ensuring that qualified candidates are not substituted for inferior candidates, which is why we established the Central Admissions Processing System, CAPS, to transparently rank candidates for admission selection,” it said.
“Similarly, a senior public figure alleged that Modibbo Adama University, Yola, sidelined some candidates in its admission exercise. JAMB promptly investigated and found the claims to be unfounded. We communicated our findings to the individual, clarifying why his assertions of discrimination were inaccurate.
“To promote accountability among institutions and ensure adherence to admission guidelines, JAMB shared its findings with the relevant universities. The board will continue to share such with institutions, where necessary, even as it, however, cautions institutions against disclosing such confidential information meant solely for institutional use to the public or media.
“While the board welcomes genuine complaints, it detests public condemnation of tertiary institutions who are merely doing their duties.
“Recently, a parent publicly claimed that his son who scored 345 was unjustly denied admission to the University of Jos without valid reasons.
“JAMB participated in a radio programme to clarify the admission ranking process, advising candidates to consider the overall results rather than relying solely on personal perceptions of brilliance.
“The candidate and his father were invited to the national headquarters, where they were shown the result with the son being ranked 86th among other candidates, while only 68 could be admitted based on merit. It is essential to note that in some universities, a score of 345 might rank a candidate as low as 300, depending on the university’s subscription capacity.
“The father was subsequently invited to view the admission platform and the ranking of his son. It was there that he saw the strenuous job being done by the Board to engender equity and fairness, and he apologised and left apparently satisfied,” the statement added
It advised parents to refrain from being swayed by their subjective perceptions of their children’s exceptional abilities without considering the broader context of overall candidate performance.
The statement added that JAMB remains committed to protecting the rights of all candidates by ensuring fair and equitable selection through transparent ranking based on performance. We will investigate any allegations of unfair treatment and provide the necessary clarifications.
