Fred Ezeh
The University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Abuja, on Monday, concluded internal screening exercise otherwise known as post-UTME for candidates that chose the school in 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The exercise was an opportunity for the school to welcome potential students some of whom have neither seen nor been to university campus, and get them acquainted with the environment ahead of matriculation soon. Cyber café operators, traders, food vendors, shuttle operators and even commercial motorcycle operators took advantage of the exercise to make brisk business.
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, cancelled post-UTME few months after he was appointed minister in 2015 for what he described as abuse of process and corruption in the system. He rescinded his decision with apologies few months after, when he addressed heads of tertiary institutions at a policy meeting organised by JAMB to herald admission exercise.
He said government reviewed decision and lifted the ban on the condition that no school will charge above N2, 000 as screening fee. He warned that government would not hesitate to punish any institution that charge above that.
However, it was mixed experience for the candidates. It started from the point of registration to the point of screening. Candidates that accessed the portal easily spent less, but the unlucky ones who couldn’t were forced to pay extra N1, 000 or above to cyber café operators to complete the registration.
Cabdidates who could neither access the portal nor get reliable helper had to besiege the school, stayed awake till odd hours to access the portal to complete the form through the cyber café operators within the school.
Some told our correspondent that they arrived the school days before the commencement date for the screening, not because they did not have cyber café around them, but they preferred to come to the school to avoid errors or unnecessary delay.
A student, Pius, said he and his two friends had running battle trying to register for the post-UTME screening in their neighbourhood. They spent N3,700 each to complete the form, after several frustrations:
“We paid the N2, 000 as cost of the form but couldn’t access the portal. We tried different cyber cafés in my location at FHA Kubwa but couldn’t. A friend and a student in the school advised us to come to the school we did and was lucky to get registered. It was frustrating but I am happy that I successfully registered and wrote the examination last Friday.”
Another candidate, Yecenu, said she had to commit additional financial resources to ensure she successfully registered for the screening to avoid excuses: “I couldn’t secure admission last year because of some fault of mine. I refused to take chances this period. Immediately portal opened, I found my way to the school from where I live in Kuje. I was among the first few candidates who registered before the portal became busy and chaotic.
“I applied for sociology and I wrote the examination at the library building located behind the Senate building. It was a success for me but some other had different challenges that had to do with the computer system.
“There are insufficient computer systems in the school but I hope that the new administration of the university would procure more computer systems ahead of next year exercise.”
She appreciated the changes being initiated by the new Vice Chancellor, Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, and suggested that additional investment be made on the CBT system of the school to avoid chaotic situations in next exercise. The spokesman of the school, Garba Waziri, could not be reached as he was said to be on sabbatical at the Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State.
But an official of the university, who pleaded anonymity, said the experience of the students had even improved from what it used to be because of the intervention of new Vice Chancellor. He was optimistic that the situation would improve for better going by the massive investment and transformation being championed by the new management of the university.