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JAMB halt Uniabuja Admission Process

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has halted the ongoing admission of students at the University of Abuja due to irregularities.

In its latest investigation on the admission process of the university, JAMB found out that the new management under Vice Chancellor, Prof Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, had altered the situation.

Checks by Economic Confidential indicated that upon resumption of office few months ago, the new VC jettisoned the committee of the university and allegedly contracted the process out, which is alien to the institution.

The VC recently addressed a press conference to announce that the process was suspended by the university management for irregularities when in fact it was an instruction from JAMB.

The development caught the attention of JAMB, who in turn informed the university to halt the 2019/2020 admission process which did not meet up with its guidelines of uploading all admissions on the Central Admission Processing System.

Further investigations revealed that university regulations on admission provided that admissions of students should be handled by the committee on admission headed by a chairman.

Further checks also showed that admission acceptance fee of newly admitted students, which was N4,500 before was now N30, 000.

The institution, which never charged fees for the collection of original certificates after graduation now charged N30, 000 per person for such.

The university management under the new leadership also allegedly reversed the existing Senate decision on examination results.

The rule was that results from departments were brought to the Senate through the Senate Business Committee within six weeks after semester examinations.

The current rule, which has not been ratified by the Senate, orders lecturers to turn in results 10 days at the end of each semester examinations – an order academic staff have said won’t be complied with.

The Office of the VC is said to have also taken over the issuance of coupons for the about 6000 bed spaces in student hostels.

The student affairs office responsible for the issuance of coupons for students’ accommodation had been side-lined. 

Efforts to contact the Vice Chancellor through phone calls and text messages failed but the university’s spokesperson, Habib Yakoob, said that the allegations were unfounded, adding that those making the claims had things to hide.

He said, “I am not aware of any memo from JAMB suspending our admission process because of irregularities, but I can assure you that those who volunteered information to you are afraid of the new order because they are unarguably beneficiaries of the old order.”

Head, Media and Information of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the development, stating that the organisation had the mandate to correct any lapses detected in any admission process of any university.

He said, “This is a directive from the Minister of Education that any irregularity on admission process must be reversed and that the University of Abuja is not an exception.