The widely quoted statement attributed to Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i that Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board [JAMB] gives preferential cut-off points or scores to candidates from the Northern states is erroneous and very misleading. The claim is unfair to both JAMB and Northern candidates.
The governor reportedly said on a live television programme, “The North has always been behind in education. We have continuously been the disadvantaged region right from independence even though we are given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That has not helped. In fact it has made our people lazy.” He then called for uniform cut-off marks for candidates from the North and South.
The truth is there is no such thing as different scores or cut-off marks for Northern and Southern candidates and the call to make it uniform is therefore uncalled for. In fact, there is nothing like preferential treatment or scores given to any candidate from anywhere in the conduct of admission exercise in Nigeria.
The conduct of admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions is guided by three main criteria. The first one is merit, which is allocated 45% of the total number of candidates to be admitted for a particular programme in a particular university. For instance, if a university has 100 slots for medicine, 45% or 45 candidates for that course would be picked on absolute merit.
The second consideration is catchment area, which is allotted 35% of the total number of students a university is to admit for each particular course. In the above example, that would be 35 students for the medical course. The number varies according to the number of students to be admitted for each course based on the capacities of each university. Some universities may have higher numbers while others may have fewer slots but the percentages uniformly apply to all. Each university is localised and has some states attached to it as its catchment area. The 35% allocated for catchment area is competed for on merit by candidates from all the concerned states.
The third approved criterion is what is referred to as Educationally Disadvantaged States, ELDS. Many of these states are in the North, but some of them are in the South East and in the South South regions as well. Together they are allocated 20% of the admission slots for each university’s course.
Irrespective of these criteria, all candidates must first meet the minimum acceptable requirement before being considered for admission under any of these criteria. Then also, individual merit still overrides all. For instance, 20% of admission to a particular programme that is to admit 100 students is 20. This twenty would be competed for by candidates from all the ELDS states. It is the very best of them that will pick the slots. This cannot be slanted in favour of Northern or any other candidates; if they do not stand up and compete, then they lose out so there is nothing like being favoured.
On the other hand, what is being referred to as cut off marks is a minimum admittable mark that no institution should go below. Institutions submit these minimums to JAMB because the law that established them empowers them to define their admission requirements while the Board guides them to ensure that the defined cut-off marks are not abused. JAMB ensures that candidates are given equal opportunity to compete and the goal posts are not changed in the middle of the game.
A cursory look at minimum cut off points by various universities does not support the allegation of a Northern underside slant. For example, Khadija University, Majia, Jigawa State requested to set 120 as its minimum score, as did Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji, Arakeji, Osun State and Caritas University, Enugu.
The UTME examination is a very transparent examination. Every candidate earns his or her marks. Marks are not given to anybody because of the region or state that he or she comes from. So, while
the North is overall behind the Southern states in enrolment, JAMB does not give it any preferential treatment outside the government approved criteria. Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i’s call for an end to preferential treatment for Northern candidates is therefore unnecessary and uncalled for.
