Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has said there is a lot of rot in the country’s education system.
Adamu, who dropped the bombshell while commissioning the remodelled headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja, expressed sadness that youth who represent Nigeria’s future were deeply involved in the rot.
The minister’s remarks come on the heels of recent efforts by JAMB to scrutinise the process of registration of candidates for the 2019 UTME and the actual exercise which took place between April 11 and 18, leading to the uncovering of a syndicate specialised in examination malpractice.
“The outcome of the exercise has revealed that there is a lot of rot in the education system. Sadly, the youth that should be the hope of the future of the country are deeply involved in this cankerworm,” he said.
Represented by the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof Abubakar Rasheed, Adamu restated his full support for JAMB in its effort to sanitise the system, adding that the ministry will continue to give the board all the assistance it requires to ensure that the syndicate in the examination industry is frontally confronted in the overall interest of the country.
The minister also gave matching orders to all public examination bodies in the country to ensure that they clean up and sanitise their registration processes just like JAMB has done.
While stating that JAMB has continued to be the flagship of the education sector in terms of transparent and honest service delivery, he congratulated the Chairman of Governing Board of the agency, Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe, and Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, for leading an administration that is exemplary, honest transparent and credible, adding the Nigerian education family was very proud of Olyede.
He expressed satisfaction at the prudent disposition of JAMB in deploying funds for the remodelling of its headquarters in Bwari, while assuring Nigerians that with the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term, the trust and confidence reposed in his leadership was not misplaced.
He stated that the second term of the President will be an opportunity to consolidate on the gains recorded in the first term while also improving in areas that average results have been recorded, even as he requested Nigerians across the world to support Buhari as he takes another oath of office in few days.
Earlier, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof Oloyede, said the entire project of remodelling the Board’s headquarters in Bwari was done at the tune of N46 million.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Governing Board of JAMB, Dr Ndukwe, said the 2019 UTME results earlier released by JAMB would pass the test of integrity anywhere in the world, adding the board did not delay the release of the result as earlier speculated but was scrutinising them.
Ndukwe expressed hope that the exam body will grow to the level when the central admission processing system will be implemented and students access their admission instantly instead of waiting for so long.
