Scrapping of Utme would lead to 2000 jobs loss’

April 9, 2013 by Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja

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Workers of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, on Monday, urged the Federal Government not to scrap the United Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

Doing so, they argued, would be inimical to national interest and also lead to 2,000 job loss.

Leaders of the JAMB chapters of the Non-Academic Staff Union and the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria said the planned action, if carried out,  could create additional tension in the polity.

The Chairmen of JAMB’s chapters of NASU and ASCSN, Messrs Samuel Azaba and Isaiah Adeigde, said at a joint press conference in Abuja that the recommendation by the Oronsaye committee that UTME and the National Examination Council be scrapped could throw the nation’s academic sector into chaos.

Azaba, who read the text of the joint press conference, said scrapping the UTME would take the nation back to the pre-JAMB era where nepotism, favouritism and unacceptable practices marred the conduct of entrance examinations into the universities.

“The Oronsaye-led committee also recommended the scrapping of NECO, thereby setting the entire education sector in turmoil.

“With the deplorable socio-economic situation in the country, no doubt, the recommendations will further increase tension in the polity as members of staff of the affected agencies contemplate the adversities of losing their means of livelihood.

“Scrapping the UTME will also create rooms for mediocrity, nepotism, ethnic and religious jingoism in tertiary institutions since their individual, examinations and their attendant admission processes will expectedly be fraught with questionable and discriminatory practices,”  he said.

Azaba alleged that the committee was only misleading the government under the pretence of fashioning a better education policy for the country.

He wondered why the committee made the recommendations when  similar examination bodies such as SAT, GRE, TOEFL were being maintained by other countries.

He called on President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Assembly and prominent Nigerians to rise against the recommendations, which, according to him, are mischievous and made in bad faith.

His counterpart, Adeigbe, urged the Federal Government to establish more tertiary institutions rather than scrap the UTME.