THEY might seem little to those who don’t know or remember its past history but the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has taken quite a few positive steps in recent years. These are remarkable transformations in the activities of the organisation of which I have taken mental note, hoping the time would come when these could be properly acknowledged.
There are not too many good things to report about public institutions in Nigeria. That the ugly many times overshadow the beautiful has made nonsense of our ability, to say nothing of our readiness, to
get out of the rot of what would seem a perpetual habit of nagging and seeing all that is wrong about us but always too tight-lipped about the few things we are doing right. The August 2 interview Saturday Punch had with the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, was all the prompting I needed to finally put this down in writing.
Many of the observable changes in JAMB’s current activities are actually the result of hit-and-miss experiments, trials and errors, over the last one and half decades. In addition to positive steps newly
There are not too many good things to report about public institutions in Nigeria. That the ugly many times overshadow the beautiful has made nonsense of our ability, to say nothing of our readiness, to
get out of the rot of what would seem a perpetual habit of nagging and seeing all that is wrong about us but always too tight-lipped about the few things we are doing right. The August 2 interview Saturday Punch had with the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, was all the prompting I needed to finally put this down in writing.
Many of the observable changes in JAMB’s current activities are actually the result of hit-and-miss experiments, trials and errors, over the last one and half decades. In addition to positive steps newly
initiated by him, Prof. Oderinde has had the good fortune of building upon the foundation laid by past registrars of JAMB. This is not as simple as it may sound, nor is it rocket science requiring the most nimble minds around to take control of. It takes a good student of history, one assured of and confident in their own ability, to set aside all ego and continue with the tasks begun by others. As we can all readily attest: policy flip-flop or discontinuity is the bane of many organisations/administrations in this country, from the private to the public. Everyone of us wants to reinvent the wheel and so embark on wild goose chase of our own in order to pamper our ego and line our pockets.
Such philosophy appears to be very far from the thoughts of the present managers of JAMB. The first thing to note about the Board today is that it has streamlined its processing of candidates’ admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. While I can’t be sure yet of its ultimate benefit, limiting candidates’ choice of institution to just one has the immediate benefit of reducing the chaos of multiple applications where only one would eventually be utilised. Although they may not be content with the institutions assigned to them but no candidate who sits the unified tertiary matriculation examinations would be totally without placement of some sorts. If their result does not qualify them for admission in a university, they could have a choice of either polytechnic or college of education. This underlines Prof. Oderinde’s statement in a section of the Saturday Punch interview that no candidate fails an examination organised by JAMB. Rather, it is the ratio of available admission spaces that determines the number of students to be offered placement, provided candidates meet the minimum basic requirement. Where there are available spaces, every applicant would be fixed somewhere.
This may be an equable way of ensuring everyone gets a tertiary education who wants it. But I hold what I would call a traditional view of examination which makes me not too eager to accept Prof. Oderinde’s postulation. My intuition tells me that while everyone could be considered prima facie eligible for admission for having met the minimum basic requirement, not all could be offered admission once a 50-50 ratio of application to admission is achieved. A university candidate, say, should in addition to meeting the basic requirement, prima facie, have certain qualities that should indicate their readiness for the type of education they aspire to. Five credits at two sittings in addition to say, 180 or 200 post-UTME test, is not necessarily sufficient qualification for admission.
The computer-based test, CBT, is an innovation that reduces to the barest, if not completely eliminate, unwholesome practices such as malpractices and/or missing answer scripts which are associated with hand written/multiple choice answers. Yes, it requires some level of technological know-how and availability of ancillary services and equipment such as uninterrupted electricity and availability of computers. The basic thing is that the CBT is the future of public exams and the earlier it is embraced, whether we like it or not, the better. JAMB is being 21st century compliant in its entire move towards a digitised operation. The advantages that come with this are obvious enough: application forms can be purchased online, exams taken online, results checked within 48-72 hours online, and now admission letters which used to take months to arrive where they are not lost in transit, can be printed by candidates online! Time was when UME candidates waited for at least six months before the release of results. We a
lso know what horrors hundreds of anxious and harassed candidates who travelled from far and near saw as they milled around gates of JAMB offices to check their results or even purchase application forms. It used to be simply hell a few years back. The happy news is that things are, however, now much different.
Virtually all recent JAMB innovations are money-driven as young Nigerians pay, exorbitantly in certain cases, to enjoy them. To be part of many of these online activities candidates have to purchase ‘scratch cards’. Sometimes more often than they need to which raises questions of extortion. These are areas the Nigerian government and JAMB itself have to work on and try to make amends. The public should also be realistic about their expectations of JAMB as with other public institutions. We know we have many spendthrifts we call leaders wasting our commonwealth on frivolities, which makes us to insist on our share of the national garri. We shouldn’t forget, though, that these services ought to be paid for. We shouldn’t be too quick to want free things while insisting on quality service. Paying for services enjoyed is about the only way to ensure those services don’t stop.
On a measuring scale, the benefits of the many digital age innovations initiated by JAMB far outweigh their disadvantages. And this is what we must take away from what the Board is doing: its entire move toward digitised operations should be seen within the framework of the country’s move towards a digitised society where people become internet-savvy, do less paper work and or carry cash all over the place as if they were human bullion vans.
Many of us may be struggling with the internet but in due course we would be the better for it. Digitised operations would allow for proper and prompt planning. In the case of JAMB, it will help in the appropriate documentation of Nigerians, providing data that could be used alongside census figures and related data.
