Minister of Education orders All Universities to Refund Post-UTME Fees and reinforce Postume cancelation with immediate effect

Federal government insists post-UTME remains
banned

– Education minister says the announcement was important to re-echo
it in the minds of stakeholders
– Argues that only JAMB scores and certificates should be
requirements for admission
The federal government has reiterated its desire to place a permanent ban
on the Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME).
This much was disclosed by Malam Adamu Adamu, Nigeria’s minister of
education, who confirmed that the initial ban on the exercise, stated
categorically that it (the ban) takes immediate effect.
According to a press statement obtained by Leadership, Adamu said he
had to emphasise the ban so as to ensure that no stakeholder is left in
doubt on government’s position.
Ben Ben Goong, the deputy director, press and public relations in the
ministry of Education, issued the released which read: “For the avoidance
of doubt, any educational institution after secondary education is
regarded as a tertiary institution. Therefore all tertiary institutions,
polytechnics, Colleges of Education, universities or by whatever name it
is called after secondary education must be subjected to admission
through the JAMB.
“Clearing in this case (screening) entails only the verification of
certificates of the candidates, JAMB scores, and any other physical
examination to ensure that such candidates are not cultists. After this,
the candidates are qualified for matriculation.
“Such screening should be at no cost to the parents or students and
should be done upon resumption in order to avoid unnecessary travels in
search of admission.”
The minister added that a situation where final year students in the
nation’s secondary schools are subjected to too many examinations in one
year could be best described as traumatic, exploitative and absolutely
unnecessary.
Recently, a report by Daily Sun detailed how some universities have
tactfully ignored the directive of the federal government as regards the
recent cancellation of post-UTME fees.
According to the report, the universities have devised other means to test
applicants and charge administrative fees in the process.
The universities were said to have invited applicants for admission for the
2016/2017 academic session, ask them to pay certain amount and also
sit for a screening test before being considered for admission.