Senate scraps Post-UTME, extends JAMB validity to 3 years

The Senate has scraped the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), thus bringing an end to the disagreement between the Federal Ministry of Education and the tertiary institutions over the Post-UTME test.



Based on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Amendment Act 2016, the conduct of UTME has become illegal.

Section 5(b) of the new bill places the sole responsibility of conducting admission examinations into tertiary institutions on JAMB.

“The matriculation examinations conducted by the JAMB shall be the sole examinations required for admission and entry into all universities, polytechnics (by whatever name called) and colleges of education (by whatever name called) to the exclusion of any institution or body”, the bill stated.

It also gave JAMB the discretion in the placement of qualified candidates into tertiary institutions, in accordance with existing vacancies and guidelines approved by authorities of such institutions.

The bill similarly vested in JAMB the collection and dissemination of information on all matters in relation to admissions into tertiary institutions and related matters.

Section 6 (1) introduced into the original Act guarantees the validity of any admission offered by JAMB to any candidate for a period of three years from the date of the examination.

Section 6 (2) and Section 6(3) of the bill also support the extension of admission validity period for three years.