Federal Goverment To Scrap NECO & UTME

Federal Government has concluded
arrangements to scrap the National
Examination Council.
Plans have also been concluded to cancel the
Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination
being conducted by the Joint Admission and
Matriculation Board for applicants into the
nation’s tertiary institutions.
JAMB will however not be scrapped.
A government source said that the decisions
were part of the recommendations made by a
White Paper Committee set up by the
government on the Oronsaye report.
The source added that upon receipt of the latest
report, President Goodluck Jonathan has been
meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo
and a few top government officials to take final
decisions on it.
It was in one of such meetings held on Tuesday
that the final decision was taken.
Under the new arrangement, the source said in
place of UTME, authorities of all tertiary
institutions would now be at liberty to conduct
their entrance examinations as they had been
doing for post-UTME.
JAMB will however serve as a clearing house.
“JAMB will now be a clearing house like
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in
the UK. If somebody gains admission into three
universities and holds down space, immediately
such person picks his first choice, JAMB’s
system will automatically free the remaining
two slots for other applicants.
“JAMB will no longer conduct examinations but
it will be setting the standard alongside the
schools authorities,” the source said.
On NECO, the source said in arriving at the
decision to scrap the examination body, the
committee took into cognizance its huge
facilities across the country.
The May/June Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination being organised by the
examination body once in a year still stands.
The government source also said arrangements
had been concluded to scrap the Public
Complaint Commission, the National Poverty
Eradication Programme and the Institute of
Peace and Conflict Resolution among others.