Kunle Adelabu
The Registrar of the Joint Admission Matriculations Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, has said that many Nigerians in the diaspora have been returning back to the country to study in the Nigerian universities.
The JAMB Chief Executive, who wondered why many are still ‘Japaing’ (leaving the country), also added that through the examination body, many foreigners have also been writing JAMB and getting admission into various Nigerian universities. These set of students, he said, are exempted from writing the post UTME.
Mrs Ville Dachi Pius, Director, Test Administration, National Headquarters, JAMB, who represented the Registrar at the African International Education Conference organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), revealed this during a panel sesion at the event.
The conference, which was held at the Commerce House, Idowu Taylor, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, March 21, 2024, was themed: ‘lnnovation, Inclusion and Collaboration for Sustainable Education’.
“We have centres in about eight foreign countries and the aim of that is to pull back our own (Nigerians) outside the country. We have centers in United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa and Gambia, where we conduct examinations”, he said.
“Candidates there don’t have to pass through post UTME once they meet the cut off points for their preferred institutions, and I can tell you that a lot of them are being driven back to the country.
“I wondered why a lot of people are still ‘japaing’ (traveling or running away) to the UK, while many are writing examinations to “japada’ (return) to the country (laughter).
“Sometimes, I wondered in disbelief that all these candidates are coming back to the country, yet some are also going”, JAMB Registrar said.
He said that the development which has caused JAMB to have eight centers across the world, is an outcome of a deliberate policy by the federal government.
“The figure of students returning to the country from the UK in the last two years was different. It increased last year and this year, it has increased”, he said.
“JAMB has sat down and come up with internationalization, and we are ensuring that we bring back not just Nigerians, but also outsiders and there are countries that we have done more than just examinations or bringing our people back, the government has actually done enough to support them to come back”.
Prof. Oloyede, speaking on the inclusion policy of the examnation body, said that JAMB is ensuring inclusion of physically challenged persons through a deliberate policy that caters for their intake and support them on campuses.
“Recently, there was a seminar where all the stakeholders were invited so that JAMB and all stakeholders can work together for the benefits of people living with disability or physically challenged, and find ways of giving them equal opportunity, not just during the examinations”, he said.
“It starts when they are registering. There is a portion on their form where they are to indicate their kind of disability. Whatever they indicated in the form, there is an Equal Opportunity Group of about 46 eminent Professors headed by Prof. Okebukola”.
Speaking further, he said that JAMB is responsible for the challenged applicants’ attendance at the examination centre, accommodation and writing of the examinations in an atmosphere that is conducive for them.
“My Registrar is very passionate about equal opportunity. Once you registered, the Group takes over from there and it caters for them. For instance, applicants with sight problems are picked up, give them date and the Board caters for them and their handlers. They would be lodged in a hotel or place where they write the examinations and they are also responsible for returning them back to their base”, he said.
“Once they write the exams and make the cut off mark, the Board will ensure that they are giving admission.
“If you are a candidate on a wheel chair and we know that you have a challenge going up a – storey building, the Board ensures that you are kept in a centre that you can easily be rolled in. We also make them comfortable”, he added.
While stating that they face challenges where a physically challenged applicant does not indicate his/her challenge, Prof. Oloyede also said that JAMB has been engaging Vice Chancellors across the universities in the country, to also make their institutions conducive for the special students.
“The only challenge that we have is where they do not indicate, and we have also move forward to ask Vice Chancellor because they are the ones that admitted them and they have a lot to do when they get into their institutions. Where is their classrooms? How do they navigate their ways and other issues were discussed and a lot have been agreed upon at the stakeholders’ seminar?”, he said.
“So, the physically challenged are primary at the heart of my Registrar and for all that we have done, each day, we still have to keep improving. I know that we are not where we aim to be yet, but I know that we are improving and we will get there”.
