The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established in 1978 to serve as a clearing house for candidates seeking admission into Nigerian universities. The decree establishing the body was later amended to include other tertiary institutions, effectively replacing the concessionary arrangement that was in place hitherto.
Under the concessionary arrangement, student applicants could apply freely to as many universities of their choice, sit for the entrance examinations, and be offered places in one or more of those institutions, depending on their performance and the availability of places. This prevailing order often presented candidates with difficulties, as they might have enrolled in one institution or another before receiving the admission letter from a more preferred institution.
It was to clear these undesirable outcomes and anomalies that the JAMB was established. Moreover, since its inception in 1978, it has primarily delivered on its mandate of well-synchronised and efficient admission processes into the nation’s tertiary institutions. Applicants to the nation’s universities were entitled to choose from three universities and two courses in a ranking order. Only one institution and one course of study are offered to each particular applicant, curbing the chaos that was previously experienced in the previous order. Nevertheless, that was until the general malaise and rot in the system set in.
Nothing speaks more to this decay than the traumatic experiences that candidates of the examination body had to pass through in the 2025 instalment of the matriculation examinations. Of the over 1.6 million candidates enrolled for the examinations, over 1.3 million scored below the 200-pass mark.
There are cries of foul play and widespread system malfunction across the country, but particularly strident in the Southeast and Lagos. JAMB, upon a quick introspection, admitted to a large-scale error in its processes in the flagged regions of Lagos and Owerri, the latter of which covered the entire southeast. Re-sit examinations were quickly arranged for the over 380,00 affected candidates. Never before has this level of failure and system collapse occurred. There is clear evidence of sabotage, and some suspects have been fingered and arrested. Investigations are ongoing to determine the extent of the compromise and malfeasance.
Nevertheless, this has not assuaged the aggrieved parents and other stakeholders, who are calling for the resignation of the JAMB registrar and the complete scrapping of the examination body. While some prominent stakeholders have vouched for the integrity of the current leadership of the examination body and the reforms it has introduced, the calls for the scrapping of the body are not new. Those who belong to the latter group believe that the examination body has since outlived its usefulness and has become a pain in the ass.
This recent failure presents an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate the continued relevance of the body and the need, if any, to make changes. After all, change is the only permanent feature of life.
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