Comparative analysis of admission policies since commencement of higher education in nigeria--By Drake Omonode

Comparative analysis of admission policies since commencement of higher education in nigeria--bY dRAKE OMONODE

To achieve the aspiration and aims of Nigerian national policy on tertiary education, it becomes imperative to ensure that only qualified entrants are admitted into the available vacancies in the tertiary institutions. Prior to 1978, the disorderliness in the university admissions system and its attendant problems led to the establishment of the joint admissions and matriculations board (jamb) via act no 2 of 1978, to conduct selection examinations into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

Since inception, the board has made several efforts to improve the tertiary education admission processes. These efforts have positively improved the views of the public, candidates, parents and the government of the board. These efforts among others recently led to the re‐appraisal of the post‐selection examination which was introduced.

This paper looks at these stages of metamorphosis of admission policies into universities from the very commencement of higher education from colonial times and the implications on the tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Nwadiani and igbineweka in 2005 opined:

Prior to 1978 each university (six out of the country‘s twelve states had universities. Ahmadu bello university was located in the north central state; the university of nsukka in the east-central state; the university of lagos in the federal capital state of lagos; the universities in ibadan and ile-ife in the western state; and the university of benin in the mid-western state. The six remaining states—north-eastern state, north-western state, kano state, benue/plateau state, south- eastern state, and rivers state—had none.) Conducted its placement examination and admitted its students in line with available spaces. On realizing that very intelligent candidates obtained admissions into a number

Of universities but settled for one while denying many of apportunities the federal government of nigeria introduced central placement examination body. This body known as the joint admissions and matriculation board (jamb) was established by decree no. 2 of 1978 (nwadiani & igineweka, 2005).

Establishment of tertiary institutions in nigeria

The history of university education in nigeria can be traced back to the setting up of the elliot commission by the then british colonial government in 1943. The commission recommended among others, the establishment of a university college in nigeria. This resulted in the founding of university college, ibadan in 1948. So prior to independence in 1960, there were two higher institutions in nigeria, both of which were located in the southwest region: yaba higher college (1934) now yaba college of technology and the university college, ibadan (1948) now university of ibadan, which was an affiliate of the university of london with frills from oxford and cambridge. Four new universities were established within two years after independence across the regions. University of nigeria, nsukka in the eastern region in 1960, university of ife (now obafemi awolowo university) in the western region in 1961, university of northern nigeria (now ahmadu bello university) zaria in the northern region in 1962 and university of lagos in the western region also in 1962. The university of benin was founded in 1970 as an institute of technology and became a full fledge university in 1971. The federal government of nigeria established seven new universities in 1976 in ilorin, kano, sokoto, maiduguri, jos, calabar and port – harcourt. Out of these seven universities, five were located in the north while the remaining two were located in the educationally less developed parts of the south. The exercise was aimed at addressing the inequalities in the location of universities in the country. The ultimate objective was to ensure equitable distribution of tertiary institutions in the country, as hitherto, there was only one university in the north as against five in the south. With these developments, there were thirteen universities in nigeria by 1976 namely:

Table 1: universities in nigeria in 1976

S/n	Southern nigeria	S/n	Northern nigeria
1.	University of Ibadan	1.	Ahmadu bello university, zaria
2.	University of nigeria, nsukka	2.	University of ilorin
3.	University of ife	3.	University of sokoto
4.	University of lagos	4.	University of maiduguri
5.	University of benin	5.	Bayero university, kano
6.	University of calabar	6.	University of jos
7.	University of port-  harcourt

           

While the early universities were established to cater for the teeming school leavers who were qualified for university education based on the number of applicants, the second generation universities were meant to encourage increase in enrolment in the areas where they were located

The problem

Nigeria has a population of about 140 million (daily sun, january 15, 2007) with a total of 75 universities. Table 1 shows a list of some selected countries with their populations and number of universities. The table shows that nigeria has the least number of universities serving a high population when compared to other countries. For examples, japan with the population of 127 million people has 1,223 universities, the united states of america (usa) has a population of 290 million people with 5,758 universities. The observed inadequacy in the number of universities in nigeria coupled with the high demand for university education have created the problems of admissions into the available universities and the sustenance of good standards. An effort to check these problems prompted the federal government of nigeria to establish the joint admissions and matriculation board (jamb) in 1978 to handle all admission matters with respect to universities at the first instance and later other tertiary institutions were educational research quarterly 2008 included. The jamb has not been able to solve the admission and quality of education problems. Babalola (2005) and eluemunor (2005) believe that many unqualified candidates have been offered admissions into nigerian universities through jamb thereby lowering standards in these institutions. The issue of quality in nigerian universities is also confirmed as being low by the world universities ranking project for 2005 which placed nigeria’s best university (the university of ibadan) which ranked 16th in africa and 978th in the world ( by times higher education ranking 2016/2017 rankings).

Regulatory bodies in charge of admissions before the establishment of the jamb of today/our days

·         Report of the commission on higher education in the colonies

·         Elliot commission

·         An inter-university council for higher education  in the colonies

·         Ashby commission

·         Nigerian universities commission

As at october, 1974 when there were just six universities in the country, each of these universities conducted its own entrance examination at its own dictate, admitted its own students. Cases of multiple applications by prospective undergraduates who applied to more than one university accrued. Thus, there were multiple offers of admission from different universities. Consequently, such candidates deprived other qualified candidates of places in those universities whose offers were declined. This led to the establishment of jamb in 1978 which was primarily set up to ensure uniform standards for the conduct of matriculation examinations and the placement of suitably qualified candidates into the nation’s tertiary institutions.

The road to centralized admission

To address the problem of multiple admissions, the new regime moved quickly by setting up the committee on university entrance (cue) in december 1975. Headed by m.s. angulu, the committee was asked to study the problems of admission into universities in nigeria with a view to removing all bottlenecks limiting entry into these institutions so that the increased opportunities for university education in all parts of the country are enhanced. In addition, the cue was asked to review the entry requirements of the various universities in nigeria with a view to making them not only realistic and responsive to national needs and aspirations but also uniform in the whole university system, if necessary through a common entrance board.  The terms of reference of the cue reflected the urgency and seriousness of the problem. Besides, it highlighted the federal government‘s willingness to liberalize admissions for the sake of regional equality and mass access even though murtala‘s regime suddenly ended on 13 february 1976 when lt. Col. B.s. dimka assassinated the head of state in an abortive coup, the federal government agenda to reform the admission system remained intact under the leadership of general olusegun obasanjo. Uncertain about the step the new head of state, a southerner, would take to close the educational gap between the north and south, northern states increased their pressure on the federal government to intervene in the university admission process.

One of the most ardent lobbyists was dr. Jubril aminu, then the executive secretary of the national universities commission and a member of the cue. Aminu used his influential position to agitate vigorously for equal representation of all ethnic groups in the existing universities. In a 53-page influential paper he addressed to the federal government, aminu lamented: the four old states of east central, lagos, midwest and west exercise an alarming monopoly of enrolment into the university system. These four states, with a combined population of about one third of the whole country, have for long had a disproportionate advantage in higher education. Even recently, in the 6 old universities the four states had 75.6 per cent, 71.4 per cent, 72.9 percent, 68.3 per cent and 69.4 per cent of the enrolments in the academic years 1970/71, 71/72, 72/73, 73/74, 74/75, respectively. Based on aminu disclosure, it was apparent that unless the trend was reversed, the future of nigeria rested in the hands of southern states since, according to him, ―they have enjoyed a long monopoly of highly skilled manpower development in all disciplines. In establishing a central admission body, the federal government gave a misleading impression that university aspirants and students from the south were responsible for the incidence of multiple admissions and low enrollment. What the candidates did was to err on the side of multiple admissions by applying to several universities with the hope that at least one or more will turn out favorably. Using the incidence of multiple admissions to justify the establishment of a central admission system was a weak argument—though a good excuse. Blaming the admission disadvantages of the north on discrimination from southern universities, their vcs, and their so-called elite meritocracy—while ignoring its colonial roots for which the south cannot be held responsible—was an ingenious argument by aminu. A far-reaching step in the quest for mass expansion occurred in 1976 when announced the decision of the supreme military council to make university education, including technical secondary school and post-secondary school, tuition-free and boarding free; students‘feeding was also subsidized by 50 percent. Obasanjo had launched the universal primary education scheme (upe) on september 1976, which made primary education free and compulsory in the country. Extending free education to the post-primary and post-secondary education was unprecedented. With the increase in the number of universities as well as free tuition, obasanjo believed that ―more nigerians will continue to have the benefit of higher education until a stage was reached where no section of this country would find itself on the defensive in the quest for and attainment of knowledge. In addition, to reduce the bottlenecks that impeded access to the universities, and based on the recommendation of the committee on university entrance, obasanjo also announced the establishment of the university central admission board—later called the joint admission and matriculation board (jamb)—which came into effect from 1977/78 session ―to harmonize and standardize admission process into our universities.

Establishment of the joint admissions and matriculation board

      by 1977, each of the thirteen (13) universities conducted concessional examinations and admitted its candidates. This mode of admission revealed serious limitations and quite often, wastage of resources in the process of administering the concessional examination especially, on the part of the candidates who had to pay application fees to two or more universities among other challenges. It was the awareness of the untidiness and uncoordinated admission which most times led to multiplicity of admission that made government to establish the joint admissions and matriculation board. The enabling laws of the board mandate it to eliminate multiple applications, multiple entrance examinations and multiple admissions while also ensuring uniformity of standards in applications and examinations and placement of suitably qualified candidates into tertiary institutions in nigeria.

Equitable distribution of admissions to         tertiary institutions

Jamb’s responsibility for equitable distribution of admissions in the placement of suitably qualified candidates in the universities takes into account:

Ø    The vacancies available in each university;

Ø    The preferences indicated by the candidates for institutions/courses;

Ø    The guidelines approved for each university, among others.

Nigeria embraced the policy of equitable distribution of admission to tertiary institutions in order to ensure that admissions into federal institutions reflect the federal character principle as enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria.and this brought the quota system into jamb admission policies

The question of quota system

Even though the federal government had taken full control of university education under gen.gowon regime, the north still believed that their chances of closing the education gap between the north and the south were remote unless a form of quota system (affirmative action) was introduced in university admission. The question of quota system did not begin in 1972. It originated in the 1950s when the north advocated a system that would promote increased enrolment of its indigenes in the university college, ibadan (uci). But the inter- university council (iuc), which was responsible for higher education policies in the british colonies, firmly opposed it. It insisted on academic merit as the sole criteria for admission to uci. The new nigerian federal government endorsed iuc position, and the 1962 federal government white paper on the ashby commission report reaffirmed it. Thus, throughout the 1960s, students secured admission to universities solely on academic merit. Students from the south benefited greatly because the region had embraced western education since the 1840s without reservation. On the contrary, the north embraced western education only selectively and reluctantly largely because of it deeply entrenched islamic tradition. This attitude resulted in the region’s limited progress in the area of western education. In the early 1970s, states in the north intensified their call for a quota system designed to reserve admission spots for their indigenes in the existing universities. The south had resisted the idea of a quota system because they saw it as discriminatory and anti academic standard. The call for quota system in university admission was a clear indication that the north was dissatisfied with low enrollment of their indigenes in the existing universities. Quota system was a divisive subject and naturally provoked a great deal of discussion and debate, thus understandably drawing the attention of the head of state. In his public address at ahmadu bello university, zaria, gowon declared his administration’s readiness to ―tackle and settle, if possible, once and for all a number of vital and controversial issues among which are the question of educational imbalance and the quota system of admission.  Since employment opportunity in the country was few and highly competitive, the south, with higher educational and professional attainment, dominated available jobs, further widening the existing educational gap between it and the north. Gowon, nevertheless, stressed that long-term sustainable approach to overcome the educational imbalance was not through a quota system of admission into universities but instead through strengthening primary and secondary school education in the affected states so that, over time, they would produce enough candidates for university admission and job opportunities. Gowon’s assessment remains valid today as it was in 1972.

    but however as stated somewhere else in this paper successive regimes came into power and threw these ides into the trash can when a central body was created called jamb and its adoption of the quota system was fashioned in line with the hasty military planned npe national policy on education (1981), which stipulates that imbalances in inter-state and intra-state be corrected to foster unity among nigerians irrespective of diversities by tribe, geography or religion. It is instructive too that state governments and private proprietors of universities have similar guidelines for selecting candidates for their respective institutions. There are two basic modes of entry into universities in nigeria:

(i)                 Direct entry for candidates who possess advanced level or equivalent certificates or results of any examination above the secondary school;

(ii)               Unified tertiary matriculation examination (utme) conducted by jamb for candidates with ordinary level qualifications.

Salim (2003) opined that the problem of admissions into nigerian universities would have been much easier if the only consideration is the quality of applicants to the universities. He posited that regional/ethnic disparities in awareness of and interest in western style education created a politically and highly sensitive dimension.

Guidelines on equitable distribution of admissions in addition to the provisions of the law establishing jamb, the federal government issued guidelines on admissions into all tertiary institutions. Similarly, state governments that are proprietors of higher institutions have similar guidelines in selecting candidates for the respective institutions. These guidelines are to ensure that admissions into these institutions are equitably distributed and reflect federal character as enunciated in the country’s constitution (jamb 2008).

The admissions guidelines (1978 – 1999)

To ensure equitable distribution of admission places among the various geopolitical components of the country, in august 1981, the federal government introduced admissions guidelines as follows:

 merit                                                                                                                        40% locality/catchment area                                                                                       30%

Educationally less developed/disadvantaged states (elds)     20%

Discretion                                                                                                                 10%

Of the 10% discretion, the universities were enjoined to reserve 2.5% for applicants from foreign countries, especially needy african countries.

4.1.2    the admissions guidelines (1999 to 2005)

Following the removal of 10% discretion criterion, the guidelines were modified as follow:

Merit                                                                                                                45%

Locality/catchment area                                                                                  35%

Educationally less developed states (elds)                                                     20%

Criteria for equitable distribution of admissions to tertiary institutions

Ø    Merit – under this criterion, candidates are considered solely by their performance in the matriculation examination. This is done in descending order from the highest scorer and it does not matter where the candidates who fall within the merit bracket come from.

Ø    Catchment – this criterion is reserved for candidates from cluster of states which are usually contiguous to the location of a university.

Ø  Educationally less developed states (elds). The educationally less developed states (elds) criterion is applicable to the (23 out of 36) states of the federation that have been described as being educationally less developed. 20% of the total intake in every university is expected to be reserved for candidates from these states, provided they meet certain minimum requirements.

Ø    Discretion – as the name suggests, the discretion criterion was exercised by the authorities (jamb, vice chancellors, rectors and provosts) to cater for candidates whose admission, in the opinion of the authority, was considered to be in the interest of the public good. These included universities teachers whose biological children might not have made the necessary cut off mark but who were prima facie qualified to be admitted in view of their possession of prerequisite qualifications. They also covered biological children of diplomats who schooled abroad and who might have gone through curriculum and syllabus different from those of schools in nigeria. However, in view of the perceived abuse of the discretion criterion, government abolished it in 1999 and spread its allotted 10% to merit and catchment.

The admissions guidelines (2005 to 2016)..the jamb saga and introduction of post-ume

Introduction

    university matriculation examination (ume) is an examination conducted by the joint admission and matriculation board (jamb) on yearly basis for the sole purpose of selecting and placing suitably qualified candidates into the nigerian universities (omodara, 2004). Before the inception of jamb, individual university in nigeria conducted their own entrance examination, but this had a lot of challenges among which were the issue of multiple applications, general untidiness or uncoordinated system of university admission, and high cost implication for the candidates. Others include the pattern or enrolment in the universities which clearly showed that majority of the universities drew the bulk of their students from their immediate geographical neighborhoods (catchment areas). In response to these problems, the federal government of nigeria established jamb in 1977 as a centralized examination body saddled with the responsibility of conducting placement examinations into nigerian higher institutions of learning. The first examination of this body was conducted in 1978. Since then, entrance examination into nigerian universities had continued to be handled by jamb. The population of potential applicants into nigerian universities had exploded such that competition to enter into nigerian universities had been a source of concern to parents as well as these applicants. Desperate candidates adopted different examination malpractices in order to secure admission into degree programs of their choice jamb has been criticized over the years for its inability to organize credible entrance examination that has integrity. Post-ume was introduced by some nigerian universities in 2006 barely few months after the release of ume results and the attendant criticisms that trailed it by some academics, opinion leaders and entire populace. These universities were of the opinion that they could no longer rely solely on jamb scores for the selection of their students but rather want another examination to act as a means of reducing incompetent applicants. Nwanze (2005) in his own criticism reported that 4,422 out of 34,892 candidates who scored 200 and above out of a total of 400 marks in ume conducted by jamb passed the post-ume tests at university of benin. He went further to state that 1,181 candidates whose names were on the jamb merit list sent to the university passed the post-ume at uniben. The only valid and logical conclusion arrived at by nwanze is that jamb result is unreliable for testing students’ real ability. Makanjuola (2005) in his own submission on why post-ume is necessary, claimed that at obafemi awolowo university (oau) ile-ife, some of the students who scored high marks in ume did not even turn up for post-ume. While not calling for complete scrapping of jamb,  makanjuola said that post-ume would provide an alternative to jamb’s monopoly. In addition to these claims and counter-claims, several studies on the predictive validity of ume by omodara (2003), oluwatayo (2003) confirmed the low predictive power of ume. Negative and inverse correlation of ume scores with some external criterions was also investigated by adeyemo (2008). According to obasanjo (2006) in one of his addresses titled: “university is not for all”, posited that it was in a bid to reposition the university education that the government introduced the post-ume and carried out the audit of all universities in the country to determine their true worth. To obaji (2005), the then minister for education in nigeria, on the reason why the federal government backs post-ume screening, narrated further the true stand of former president obasanjo and his ministers and claimed that the real situation is that indeed, the country is faced with a grave situation in the quality of students selected by jamb, like somebody who scored 290 or 300 in ume but cannot spell lagos or lawyer and cannot answer basic questions posted to him.

Commenting on whether to scrap jamb or not, mimiko (2006), in one of his papers titled: “how relevant is jamb to university admission?” Lamented that jamb has declined consistently in its credibility, integrity and reliability on its performance; thus, it had enjoyed little or no respect among nigerians. Mimiko went further to blame the desperation of going to higher school on students who connive with their parents to secure admission. He opined that advent of private universities and pre-degree programmes have contributed in no small measure to the irrelevance of jamb. Mimiko concluded by calling for the sustenance of the post-ume screening exercise, which he described as an advancement of the frontiers of autonomy of the universities. Complementing the view of mimiko was afemikhe (2007) who narrated his experience from university of benin, opined that the previous two years since the inception of post-ume, have witnessed tremendous results. The pass rate of the students has improved and post-ume students’ involvement in examination related problems have not been found. Despite good reasons given by some people in defense of post-ume, some people still spoke in defense of jamb. Onyechere (2005) ascertained that post-ume screening is illegal. To onyechere, examination malpractices in nigeria are a universal societal problem and not the problem of jamb. He believed that since we have limited spaces for all these candidates and private universities are for the children of the rich, then, the students will be in a desperate mood to secure admission at all cost. He warned with caution that if our response to malpractice in jamb examination is to scrap jamb, then we should be talking about

Scrapping waec, neco and all the institutions of higher learning. Commenting further on the legality of post-ume, okebukola (2009), the then executive secretary of national university commission (nuc) said that universities conducting multiple-choice objective test for their post-ume have derailed from the manner the examination was conceived. To him, when post-ume was initiated, the screening exercise was meant to test candidates’ coherence in the english language through essay writing and oral interviews.

Whereas the gains of the post-ume test seemed clear and laudable but the corruption that bedeviled the ume centered admission shifted its post from the jamb office to universities. This has led to what we now call “policy summersault”. As at 2016 on the pages of nigerian vanguard newspapers it was reported that the federal government had scrapped post-unified tertiary matriculation examinations, utme, as a pre-condition to gaining admission into universities in the country. The government and stakeholders in education sector also pegged 180 as the benchmark for 2016 admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to improve the quality of education in nigeria. These decisions were reached at the 2016 combined policy meeting on admissions to universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions in nigeria. The minister of education, malam adamu adamu, while declaring open   the meeting, said since the federal government and stakeholders had confidence in the examinations conducted by the joint admissions and matriculation board, jamb, there was no need for other examinations to be conducted by universities after jamb exams. He said:  “as far as i am concerned, the nation has confidence in what jamb is doing, the universities should not be holding another examination and if the universities have any complain against jamb, let them bring it and then we address it. ’But if jamb is qualified enough to conduct tests and they have conducted test, then there will be no need to conduct another test for students to gain admission. “the ministry expects that all candidates given admission must be from jamb. But jamb must stop issuing admission letters, jamb should get in touch with institutions before offering admission to students. ‘’the closing date is november 30th and no university should exceed its admission capacity and any tertiary institution that doesn’t follow the rule, the ministry would start sanctioning them. ‘’institutions should stop admitting students into un-accredited courses in their institutions. The institutions should stop writing jamb to increase their quotas because jamb cannot do that.” The minister also said institutions should stop writing j amb to increase their quotas as there were relevant agencies to do so. Adamu also reminded the stakeholders that the criteria for admission was still in force, and asked the institutions to adhere to it. “merit is 45%, catchment area 35% and educational development in less developed states 20%, this is for federal universities and for states universities, merit 40%, catchment 40 % and less developed local governments get 20%,’’ he said. The minister also asked the joint admissions matriculation board to stop extra charges on several categories of changes on admissions such as the change of course, change of school and others. The registrar of jamb, professor dibu ojerinde, while talking to journalists after the meeting, said institutions were free to go above the 180 benchmark. “180 benchmark is even, no one will go below it this year. Universities can go above it. This year, we have more than enough candidates because over 1.2 million candidates scored above 180, so we have enough candidates this year. “there won’t be any written post-u tme but they would screen the candidates. It is a necessary thing to screen the candidates. ‘’we agree and the minister of education also agrees but the issue of taking another examination is no longer going to happen,” he said.

The admissions guidelines (2016 till date):

Merit                                                                                                   45%

Locality/catchment area                                                                      35%

Educationally less developed states (elds)                                        20%

Conclusion

   educational gap between the largely muslim north and christian south produced frequent regional tension in nigeria since the colonial period. Conscious of its educational disadvantage, the north understandably resisted potential southern domination, a relationship that was ―haunted by fear and suspicion. It was not surprising that the bitter experience of the nigerian civil war compelled the military administration of gowon, mohammed, and obasanjo to forge a strong, united nation by investing in mass education policies. The higher education policies of this period set the tone for the post-1979 direction of higher educational; and, they are, more importantly, crucial in understanding the challenges of mass university education and nation building in nigeria. For instance, jamb, established in 1978 to coordinate university admissions for mass, equitable access, failed to guarantee greater access for northerners. Although the number of universities grew from six in 1970 to thirteen in 1979 and enrolment surged from 14, 468 in the 1970/71 session to 57,742 in the 1979/80 session, students from the north remained grossly under-represented in universities.96 part of the reason is that while southern states invested in providing greater access to primary and secondary education for their indigenes, the north waited for initiatives to come from the federal government. Such initiative came in 1981 when president shagari, a northerner, used jamb to implement the controversial quota system, a system that compromised national unity. Intended to help increase access to the academically disadvantaged northerners, quota system alienated southerners who lost admission slots in the federal universities. Determined to guarantee university education for their indigenes, and encouraged by the 1979 constitutional amendment that transferred education to the concurrent legislative list, governors in the south made the establishment of state-owned universities a high order political business, even under severe resource constraints. Eight universities emerged in the south between 1979 and 1983. The south continued to maintain educational lead while the goal of closing the educational gap between the north and the south through jamb and quota failed woefully. In fact, jamb and quota system have remained to this day a lightning rod for intense, divisive debates on nation building, often threatening the corporate existence of nigeria.

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