Senate Mulls Amendment of JAMB Act to Limit Age for University Entry

Kuni Tyessi

The Senate Committee on Basic Education has said that it would pursue the amendment of the law that established the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) to limit the age of candidates writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), to 16 years and above.

The Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, gave the indication during the committee’s oversight visit to the JAMB when he said that the committee had identified two major areas that would be addressed in the proposed amendment to enable the exam body to function better.

The committee also noted that candidates below the age of 18 should not be admitted into the university because age has a lot to do with learning ability.

Eyakenyi said: “Our own work is that of making laws, to legislate. We have identified two major areas that we need to go into the process of amending the act establishing the JAMB. That’s the area of support we will give.

“Other than that, we also intend to pass on what we have seen today to the appropriate MDAs and the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure the support that the JAMB needs is given to it.”

The senator stressed the importance of education to the development and future of Nigeria and stated that the sector deserved maximum attention.

She described the JAMB as the bridge between the secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria, adding that “if the products from the secondary schools are not properly catered for to be assessed before turning them into the university definitely you will have a problem.”

Eyakenyi also commended the board for conducting the 2021 UTME in a manner that was free from malpractice and described the Registrar of the JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, as a round peg in a round hole.

The committee, however, queried why the JAMB devoted over N500 million to staff welfare apart from their regular salaries.

Responding, Oloyede told the committee that the JAMB does not have powers to disqualify any candidate on the basis of age but explained that individual institutions could decide who to admit as it is the case with University of Ibadan, which would not admit candidates below 16 years.

He explained that the budget of the board was only 75 per cent implemented following government’s directive that 25 per cent of the budget should be returned to the federation account.

The registrar said staff of the board was properly incentivised to prevent them from colluding with fraudsters to commit examination malpractices, stating that part of the expenses were on their local travels, transportation and allowances.

He added that the JAMB had the approval of the wages and salaries commission to pay its staff 13th month salary every year.