July 4, 2023

A Federal Lawmaker, Rep. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe has reinforced the need for the pending Bill on the validity of United Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to passed by the 10th National Assembly.

This came to the fore during an online seminar, where the lawmaker argued that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) should not be a revenue generating agency of government.

This is contained in a statement signed by Akande-Sadipe’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Olamilekan Olusada, on Tuesday in Abuja.

She argued further that UTME should not be an examination that would be conducted every year.

The lawmaker, who represents Oluyole Federal Constituency in Oyo State reiterated that JAMB should not be assessed on the revenue generated to the coffers of the Federal Government, but on the quality of examinations it conducts.

Akande-Sadipe explained that if the bill is passed and assented to UTME would have a validity period of 3 years.

The Bill, according to her seeks to increase the validity of results of UTME from one year to a minimum of three years and maximum of five years.

“I sponsored the bill, March 16, 2022, on the floor of the House of Representatives, but because of the magnitude of bills that go to the floor of the House, it would have gone far.

“But, however, the bill has gotten to the committee level and we are almost there.

“I pray the bill becomes a reality. If it becomes a reality, it will take away a lot of hardship away from many homes”, she said.

Akande-Sadipe said that the tenures/validity of other internationally recognised examinations last up to five years in some countries.

She cited examples of international standards exams such as GMAT, GRE, IELTS, TETOFL, SAT, MCAT, PTE, and USMLE.

The Oluyole representative said she was passionate about the bill, adding that many are victims of the JAMB yearly tests.

“I am not asking that the exam tenure be extended in cases where people fail. I am asking that it should be extended when people pass the exam.

“In Nigeria, every year you take JAMB and if you don’t get into the tertiary institution, you have to repeat it; Why”, Akande-Sadipe queried.

She said that UTME should be a test to assess one’s readiness to go to the university/terriary institution, adding that a candidate’s readiness should not change after attempting and passing it once. (NAN