The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has assured that the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would not affect this year’s admission process.
A senior official of JAMB who spoke to The Guardian under the condition of anonymity assured parents and prospective candidates seeking admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions that the board will soon commence admission process for the 2020/2021 session.
The face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU has resulted in an eight-month industrial action by lecturers, raising concerns over admission and academic calendar.
But the JAMB official stated that efforts are on by the board in partnership with other stakeholders, to come up with all necessary information that will guide prospective candidates on how to complete admission processes into institutions of their choice.
He expressed optimism that it is possible for institutions to admit students this session.
The official also agued that Nigerian universities’ calendar has never been the same. According him, while some institutions have finished last session and are waiting for JAMB to give them the go ahead to start admissions; some government institutions are in first semester. “Those who are ready will start and those ones who are not can do admissions and when they finish, they can now call their students.’’
On his part, the Director of Corporate Affairs, Nigerian Universities Commission, (NUC), Ibrahim Yakasai in an interview with The Guardian said there is no connection between the industrial action by ASUU and admissions.
“I think we need to talk about the pandemic first, how many months were lost as a result of the pandemic? Though the Federal Government is yet to come up with a policy on the issue, this year’s admission will be done in such a way that nothing would be lost,” Yakasai stated.
“Officially, I will tell you that there is no policy yet on what will happen but my thinking is that some measures would be put in place to ensure that nothing is lost for old students and the new ones coming in.’’
