JAMB Cautions Candidates, Parents Over Bad Comments On Admissions

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Cautions Candidates, Parents Over Bad / Inflammatory Speech / Comments on Admissions.... Cites the case of Miss. Firdauz Yusuff-Awari.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has admonished candidates, parents and public commentators to refrain from making inflammatory statements on admission particularly, when the admission does not favour them.

The warning came on the heels of screaming headlines and accusations of wrongdoing by universities following the inability of some candidates to secure admissions because of the candidates' failure to comply with laid down rules governing the admission process.

The Board was inundated, of recent, with the story of one Ms. Firdauz Yusuff-Awari who was supposedly qualified, according to her parents, but was denied admission. Ms. Yusuff-Awari, according to the reports, scored 300 at the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and chose to study Common Law at the University of Ilorin. She scored 76% in the Institution's post-UTME which pegged its cutoff mark for Common Law at 260 and 50% for post- UTME respectively.

According to the parents, Ms. YusuffAwari was unable to include Mathematics among the O'level subjects she uploaded to the University of Ilorin portal because of the delay in its release by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) before the university shut its portal on 20th August, 2019.

The parents were also quoted to have said, “She uploaded eight subjects to the university portal while a waiting the release of her Mathematics. The WASSCE result was released on 25th July, 2019, and the Mathematics was later released on 31st August, 2019.” From the parents' narrative, it was crystal clear that the candidate could not upload all her O'level subjects before the closing date and, as such, unqualified to be considered for placement in the university.

The Board, as a responsible and responsive organization, carried out an in-depth investigation into the matter and came to the conclusion that the accounts of the parents and the university were unanimous with respect to lack of adherence to and respect for timelines by the candidate.

The Board wishes to state that keeping to laid-down provisions in the conduct of admissions is germane to the sanctity of the process. JAMB deems it fit to set the records.