Don’t charge more than N2,000 for post-UTME, govt warns tertiary institutions AGENCY REPORT

The Federal Government on Tuesday warned that it would sanction any tertiary institution which charges more than N2,000 for post-UTME. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the warning at the ongoing Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Gbongan, Osun State. Adamu said, “At the 2017 policy meeting, I endorsed that any institution which was interested in conducting any form of post-UTME screening could do so, but that the gross charge for the screening should not be more than N2,000. “Once again, let m,ue caution heads of tertiary institutions that it would not be tolerated for any institution to charge any fee beyond the approved two thousand naira (N2,000). “Firmer sanctions than those of last session shall be applied to cases of violation,” the minister said. Adamu, however, said that the policy meeting would continue to be the forum where the agenda, guidelines, modalities, and timelines would be set for the purpose of admissions to universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria. “Therefore, no admission to any tertiary institutions should be announced before the policy meeting. “It is appreciated that the meeting is being held early enough for the commencement of the new session. “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board should ensure that the policy meeting is now held not later than June every year,” Adamu said. In his remarks, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said UTME scores were not the cut-off marks to gain admission into universities. Oloyede said the marks were just minimum scores, adding that there were other assessments for consideration before a candidate could gain admission into tertiary institutions. He also said that the number of candidates that were involved in examination malpractices in UTME had reduced drastically. Rainbowgist