The House of Representatives has urged the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to allow its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) remain valid for at least three years.
The House has also called on JAMB to conduct the UTME twice annually.
This was fallout of a motion by a member from Ekiti state, Hon. Akintunde Rotimi, Wednesday, as he expressed concern that the UTME result is valid for only one year, saying if candidates cannot secure admission into any tertiary institution of their choices in the concerned academic year, the result becomes useless.
According to him, despite the incessant strikes embarked upon by ASUU which led to the loss of a complete academic calendar, JAMB still went ahead to administer its examination without recourse to the industrial action by ASUU.
The lawmaker said there was a backlog of candidates waiting for admission into the limited vacancies in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions with its attendant pressure on the education system and parents.
He said parents are also forced to enroll their wards and or children annually
for the examination, where they could not secure admission on the basis of the number of applications.
In his ruling, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas said an ad-hoc committee would be constituted to interface with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure compliance.
