The House of Representatives member has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to extend the validity of its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to three years.
The lower legislative chamber made the request on Wednesday while calling on JAMB to conduct the UTME at least twice a year.
This motion was moved by the lawmaker representing Ekiti north 1 federal constituency, Hon. Akintunde Rotimi who expressed concern that the UTME result is valid for just one year.
While moving the motion, Rotimi said it is worrisome that if candidates cannot secure admission into any tertiary institution of their choice in the concerned academic year, the result becomes useless.
The House of Reps member thereafter asked JAMB to “rethink” the arrangement so as to meet global standard.
“The move would bring immediate relief to students and their parents/sponsors, who bear the burden of paying every year for the exam, as well as give candidates multiple windows to sit for the exam in a year,” he explained.
Rotimi further argued that there is nothing in the extant act establishing JAMB that restrains it from immediately carrying out the resolutions of the house on the subject.
In a statement, the Ekiti state lawmaker said the house also adopted a motion seeking to establish an ad-hoc committee to discuss the resolution of the house with JAMB and other relevant authorities.
“In addition to passing my motion, the honourable house also passed a motion for an additional prayer moved by Hon. Olumide Osoba, establishing an ad-hoc committee of the house to liaise with the authorities of JAMB and the ministry of education to ensure the resolution is expeditiously carried out,” he said.
According to Rotimi, despite the incessant strikes embarked upon by ASUU which led to the loss of a complete academic calendar, JAMB still went ahead to administer its examination without recourse to the industrial action.
He said as a result of this, there has always been a backlog of candidates waiting for admission into the limited vacancies in the country’s tertiary institutions with its attendant pressure on the education system and parents.
Rotimi stressed that parents are also forced to enroll their wards and or children annually for the UTME where they could not secure admission on the basis of the number of applications.
In his ruling, Speaker of the House of reps, Tajudeen Abbas said an ad-hoc committee would be constituted to interface with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure compliance.
