Laolu Akande, a former presidential media aide, has backed calls for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to raise its cut-off mark for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Akande stated this in an interview on Thursday, arguing that Nigeria must re-establish the prominence of merit in education to keep pace with global standards in a knowledge-driven economy.
“Well, my view is that when we are talking about education in a world that is driven more by the knowledge economy, we are not supposed to be playing around merit.
“We have to re-establish the prominence of merit when it comes to education. We cannot play around the issue of merit,” he said.
According to him, lowering admission standards undermines Nigeria’s competitiveness at a time when technology and innovation are defining progress worldwide.
He stressed support for the Minister of Education’s ongoing reforms, saying they are crucial if Nigeria intends to “match up with what is happening globally.”
