By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Academic Staff Union of Universities,(ASUU) on Wednesday asked the Registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Professor Ishaq Oloyede to voluntarily resign his position over the lopsided nature in the ongoing JAMB registration coordinated by the Board.
Speaking through the University of Ibadan ASUU Chapter, Chairman, Dr Deji Omole, the union stated that the registration problems being imposed on candidates are major set-back and may jeopardize the ambition of candidates who are interested in higher education.
Dr Omole in a chat with newsmen in Ibadan on the cumbersome registration procedure introduced by the JAMB registrar tasked the Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu to call the Registrar to order not to make life difficult for the children of the masses who yearn for quality public education.
“Why will anybody make life difficult for candidates whose parents are struggling to live under the terrible condition the government has made them to live in? Why would somebody introduce changes that is only known by members of the board? We have made case for the scrapping of this body because in the present instance the introduction of different registration procedure has turned candidates to victims of fraud while different centers now make business by arranging with private schools who bring all their students in group to come and register while children of the masses look on”he said.
According to Dr Omole, JAMB has succeeded in wasting time the candidates are supposed to be using to read at “fraudulent registration centers”.
The ASUU Chairman who reiterated the union’s earlier call for the scrapping of JAMB, saying universities must be allowed to design its standard examination for its own candidates.
This is a failed approach to change and the Registrar admitted this with the cancellation of the mock examination. How can we ensure that the candidates prepare well for the exams when they spend weeks waiting for PIN and are at the mercy of registration officers who force them to go to cybercafe where they have arrangements to first create their profile before they can have their PIN. This is where people are duping the Nigerian Children”.
Alleging that the performances of the JAMB registrar since assumption of office has further confirmed the position of the union that JAMB has outlived its usefulness,Dr Omole urged the Federal government to do the needful in order to safe public education.
Speaking further, the ASUU Chairman berated the JAMB registrar over alleged connivance with private universities by reducing the number of public universities candidates can choose to one instead of two and
also faulted the one-month registration as against the usual three-month window coupled with the cumbersome registration challenges describing the policy as inhuman and insensitive to the yearnings of Nigerian students.
“The fact that a mock examination was stopped due to logistic reasons underscores the point of the incompetence of the Registrar noting that if candidate could not do mock how sure are they to pass the examination.
This is a total failure. Students must have at least three months for registration, its procedure must be open and their options to public universities must not be limited to serve the agenda of the proprietors of private universities”
