JAMB and the Rest of Us: What Every Student Should Know
It’s that yearly season again when news outlets inundate us with issues related to JAMB. After such relentless coverage, it’s astonishing that the public’s understanding of JAMB remains shockingly low and continues to increase. Much of this ignorance seems to be deliberately nurtured, rooted in our skepticism toward almost all public institutions. Consequently, any announcement from our government bodies, from the high office of the presidency to the most minor public sector positions, is met with a healthy dose of skepticism, if not outright mockery. Given this context, it’s no wonder that nearly everything issued by JAMB, being a governmental agency, is first scrutinized and then dismissed unless it aligns with an already established viewpoint.
JAMB faces the challenge of catering to three conflicting parties whose interests are not only distinct but frequently opposing. On one side, there are the candidates, fervently backed by their parents and other groups that support their goals. It is of little consequence if their candidacy is on shaky ground; what counts is achieving a passing grade, followed by acceptance into one of the ‘desirable’ programs, ideally at one of the prestigious universities.
Additionally, secondary school owners utilize the yearly JAMB exams as a marketing tool to showcase their success in placing students in esteemed universities. They invest significantly in newspapers to flaunt the images of students who surpass the 300 mark in JAMB exams. The students enjoy their short-lived fame, only to descend into the anonymity of typical Nigerian student life.
On another front are the universities, represented by their faculty, administrators, and alumni scattered globally. They all desire their institution to rank among the best in the nation so they can attract top students and maintain a prestigious standing on the university ranking charts. The origin and criteria for ranking Nigerian universities are unclear, yet everyone seems compelled to verify how their alma mater fares in the latest rankings. In recent times, the landscape has become more complicated with the emergence of private universities eager to leverage their rankings as a marketing strategy to draw paying students.
The third faction is JAMB itself, which struggles under the burden of representing government authority. This situation is inherently weak since, generally, Nigerians harbor deep-seated skepticism towards any form of government. Once, in the colonial era, this might have been justifiable or at least understandable; however, almost seventy years after gaining independence, this perception remains somewhat perplexing.
The government is now run by Nigerians, yet the view of it as a foreign entity endures. This distrust has led to JAMB being an easy target for sabotage, and if it manages to function effectively against the numerous challenges it faces, it is often criticized as not serving the nation’s best interests. For instance, cheating during JAMB examinations is not only accepted but is actively encouraged in certain circles.
This is why, when a candidate falsified her own results to elevate her position, many Nigerians chose to believe her outrageous tale instead of the official and genuine explanation released by JAMB. Based on my fifty years of experience within the Nigerian university system, I fully comprehend this mindset. Those who succeed in examinations do so based on their own efforts, while those who do not succeed often attribute their failures to the malicious designs of their examiners. JAMB, being the foremost examining body in the country, cannot, under any circumstances, be afforded any credibility whenever issues arise.
The supremacy of the revered JAMB is now unquestionable, but there was a time, of course, when it did not exist. Anyone who gained admission into a Nigerian university before 1978 did not have to take the JAMB examination. Up until that time, each university was completely in charge of all activities related to the admission of students.
This meant that applicants submitted their applications to the universities of their choice, which were processed individually by each institution. In my case, I applied to three universities during a period when only four were operational. Many of my peers did the same and were admitted to all three institutions, creating significant disorder within the system. This occurred because these excessive admissions created a barrier for other qualified applicants who were, albeit at a lower level, deserving of admission.
However, the system did not become overwhelmed as it could have because of the relatively small number of universities and candidates. Additionally, many applicants were considered for admission based on their Advanced-level results. By the mid-seventies, however, not only were there more universities, but most candidates were being admitted through an examination process. These candidates were subsequently enrolled in what was seen as a preliminary year.
At Ife during that time, this year was referred to as Part zero to signify that those in that category were being groomed for admission to the main university. Given this situation, it was deemed necessary to combine the examination processes of all Nigerian universities, leading to the creation of a Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
This made a lot of sense at that time, particularly because all the existing universities were federal government institutions. The current scenario is quite different, seeing as there are now as many as fifty-one federal universities alongside hundreds of other institutions for which JAMB holds responsibility. It must also be recognized that the number of candidates managed by JAMB has increased from fewer than one hundred thousand to well over one million. None of these challenges is insurmountable, at least not as daunting as the integrity or lack thereof exhibited by the individuals involved in the examination process.
If Nigeria had an integrity index, it would have plummeted dramatically since the first JAMB exam in 1978. Even back then, the human factor in how admissions were managed was never completely absent. I came to realize this through my own experiences. My initial engagement with JAMB occurred in 1982 when I served as the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, overseeing the admission of students to that Faculty.
Contrary to popular belief, both then and now, individual universities hold the authority to admit candidates. Each university communicates its minimum standards to JAMB, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with those standards. This is why various institutions have differing cutoff points, even though JAMB now maintains its standard, ultimately set by the universities themselves.
In 1982, university admissions were still a relatively straightforward process. There existed a Medicine/Pharmacy admissions committee that convened at JAMB’s Ikoyi location. All committee members arrived with their result printouts and presented them at the meeting. From there, we provided our recommendations, leading to admissions based on earlier submissions. The allocation was 40% merit-based, 30% allocated for catchment areas, 20% for candidates from educationally disadvantaged states, and 10% left at our discretion.
At that time, there were hardly any qualified candidates from educationally disadvantaged regions, and few applicants from outside our catchment area attempted to gain admission, considering the disadvantages linked to their states of origin. Consequently, virtually all qualified candidates within our 90% criteria were granted admission. The most significant outcome of this process was that, unlike in previous years, the majority of successful candidates hailed from the South West. This trend has persisted since, resulting in a noticeable dilution of the ethnic diversity that was once a hallmark of the university. This has similarly impacted most other Nigerian universities.
Over the years, however, the examination board has faced challenges that were unforeseen in 1978. To begin with, candidates and their sponsors have become increasingly desperate and dishonest. Numerous “miracle centers” that facilitate cheating have emerged, turning it into an art form across the country. The situation has reached a point where candidates are supported in their unscrupulous activities by significant others, including anxious parents and teachers.
The effort required by JAMB to combat this wrongdoing is immense. During the nineties, the examination struggled with these integrity issues to such an extent that its published results lost all credibility. The situation deteriorated to the point that it was evident the performance of students admitted to the university during that time was dismal.
The new students were often loud, lacking substance, and displayed obvious disdain for almost all aspects of university culture. In essence, far too many of them were simply intolerable, yet they could not be filtered out. This prompted universities to respond by introducing an additional barrier between the JAMB examination and final admissions to protect their integrity. Thus, post-JAMB tests were established.
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