The Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) has stated that the Minister of
Education's pronouncement did not take away a university's right to select its students as the law
empowers its Senate to screen applicants before admission. It would be recalled that the Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, during the JAMB
policy meeting with stakeholders, announced the scrapping of the post-UTME screening exercise
organized by tertiary institution.
The Secretary-General of the Vice-Chancellors association, Prof Michael Faborode, who was the
guest speaker at the 11th convocation lecture of
Covenant University last Thursday, said the minister did not consult with stakeholders before banning
the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). He said: "AVCNU does not feel that we should make
a public pronouncement on the issue. Remember,
when the minister made that, he also said there
would be clarification on how the screening would
be done. "But for us, the issue is very clear. Remember, Post-
UTME came out of necessity because at the time, the
level of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
(JAMB) exam was seriously questioned. It is true
that things have improved to some extent; but I feel
the minister's pronouncement should have been more consultative and we would have conducted
studies to verify the present situation like we did
when we started post-UTME. "But why we feel there was no need for outcry is
that the fundamental right of universities to conduct
screening cannot be taken away. The Senate of
every university must screen whoever comes into
the university and must guarantee the quality of
certificate they are awarding. These are fundamental task.