Write post-UTME at your first choice institution, JAMB tells candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB has back-off on its new policy adopted on July 14 to redistribute candidates to universities.

JAMB’s Public Relation Officer, Mr. Benjamin Fabian who disclosed this to Vanguard Tuesday in a telephone conversations said: ”Candidates should go and write the post-UTME in their institutions of first choices.”

He, however noted that after the post-UTME in their universities of first choice, if necessary, JAMB is still going to redistribute them.

He said: “When they write the post-UTME  in the schools of their first choices, they may wish to consider the other places we have taken them to for admissions.

”The reason is that if they don’t get admission in their first choices institution, they will get in the second.”

He explained that JAMB’s effort in redistributing candidates was only geared towards helping candidates of over-subscribed institutions gain admission to other federal or state universities rather than wasting their scores.

You will recalled that JAMB had last week announced its new policy to redistributes candidates to universities other than their first choice.

The development which generated sharp criticism from stakeholders almost paralysed some of the most  sought after universities in the country.

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Nigerian govt. schools reject students displaced by Boko Haram over “academic documents”

Government schools in Abuja are turning away hundreds of students displaced by Boko Haram from northern Nigeria, denying them education on the grounds that they are unable to produce the appropriate documents they failed to grab as they fled the rampaging terrorists.

The FCT government secondary schools are demanding the originals of age declaration, birth certificate, testimonials, transfer certificate from the last school and junior school leaving certificate before the displaced students can be given admission.

Denied education, these students have resorted to odd jobs to fill their time and make ends meet. No papers, no education.

Back in December 2014, Jeremiah Andrew, 17, and many others ran to Abuja for safety, fleeing repeated Boko Haram attacks in the northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

Jeremiah said he fled his village – Gwoza, Borno state – with his uncle when the terrorists attacked.

“When the attack started, we had to run and the only place we found was under a tree,” he said. “We stayed there for days, till we spotted a bus. I and my uncle ran to it and joined (the passengers) to Abuja.”

Jeremiah said he was in senior secondary school when they fled. He is now a carpenter in Waru, an Abuja suburb popular with displaced persons.

Jeremiah, now a carpenter, was rejected by a secondary school.

When he arrived Abuja, he tried to continue his education at the Apo Government Secondary School, but he was turned away by the authorities because he could not produce the documents the school demanded.

“I can’t go back to Gwoza to get those credentials,” he said. “Now I’m a carpenter. I make furniture.”

A displaced mother of seven, Mary Paul, has two of her kids out of secondary school due to the rejections. She told PREMIUM TIMES that the registrar at the Apo Government Secondary asked parents affected by the insurgency to go back to their states to get the credentials before their kids can be admitted.

“When we got to the school the registrar said I should go and get the original age declaration, birth certificate and junior school leaving certificate before they can admitted into the school,” she said.

“When we were all running for our dear life, when would we even remember to get documents? Some of us could not even carry our clothes let alone certificates.”

Mrs. Paul’s story cuts across many IDP camps in Abuja.

In Waru, many school age kids loiter around the community. The girls turn to hairdressing while the boys become Okada riders.

Rules are rules

PREMIUM TIMES visited three schools in the FCT – Government Secondary School, Apo resettlement, Junior Secondary School, Jikwoyi and Government Secondary School, Karu – and found the claims of the displaced persons to be true.

The documents demanded by the school authorities were indeed a prerequisite for any of the IDP students to be admitted into a class. That condition could not be waived, the schools said.

The vice principal in charge of admissions at the Government Secondary School Apo told PREMIUM TIMES that it was rather unfortunate that the IDPs were affected by the insurgency but they had to bring the “necessary’ documents”.

“They need to get the original of their birth certificate, junior leaving certificate, age declaration, testimonial, and transfer certificate, or they should go to court to get the papers,” the vice principal, who refused giving his name, said.

The Education Resource Centre in Abuja, in charge of all government secondary schools in the city, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES the decision to keep IDP students away from school is backed by the authorities and inspired by the government’s inability to differentiate IDPs from regular admission cheats.

“In a case where they cannot provide those documents, then we ask them go back to the state and get a letter from the Ministry of Education to give to us here, and based on that we give them the admission,” Ramatu Ibrahim, the director of the centre told PREMIUM TIMES.

She explained that the reasons for demanding such documents was because a lot of people have hidden under the umbrella of IDP to seek admission into government schools.

“Unfair and unfortunate”

Some members of the civil society have condemned the government embargo on school admission for kids who are willing to go to school after they were displaced by Boko Haram.

They blamed the government for the unfortunate attack by Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast Nigeria, noting that the government had failed to provide security for its country.

Shola Okpodu, group managing director of School Hunters, told PREMIUM TIMES that the government is exposing the kids to grave danger by denying them education.

“Not giving them an opportunity to go to school simply means they may end up as miscreants, they may end up discouraged, this is like creating more thieves,” Mrs. Okpodu said. “I see no reason why those kids should be stopped from attending schools. Some of them, from my experience are going through depression. They are traumatised. So how do you expect them to go back to that same place they ran away from (to pick up documents).”

Mrs Okpodu argued that it was inconsiderate and unfair for the government to place such demands on the displaced school children.

A youth advocate, Samson Itodo, described the situation as “pathetic and unacceptable”.

He explained that if the children affected by the insurgency show interest in going to school and the government is giving them reason not to, then it should be condemned.

“If the government is asking them to go back to the state to get a letter from the Ministry of Education, are they willing to give them transportation fare?” he asked. “Will the government guarantee the safety of their lives?”

He argued that it was the government’s responsibility to identify each IDP and ensure they are properly attended to, rather than traumatise them.

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Photo: Nigerian student solves 30-year-old maths equation & breaks academic record at Japanese university

A Nigerian student named Ufot Ekong (pictured above) solved a 30 year old maths equation and broke academic record at Japanese university and he did it while working two jobs to pay his way!

Independent UK reports 

A Nigerian student has broken a 30-year-old maths equation and achieved the highest grades at a university in Japan for 50 years.

Ufot Ekong, who studied at Tokai University in Tokyo, achieved a first class degree in electrical engineering and scored the best marks at the university since 1965, the Flotilla Magazine reported.

He began his success early at the university, solving a 30-year-old maths equation in his first semester.

Throughout his university career Mr Ekong has won six awards for academic excellence. The brilliant mathematician worked two jobs alongside his studies to pay his way as a student.

Mr Ekong also speaks English, French, Japanese and Yoruba and won a Japanese language award for foreigners. He is currently working for Nissan and already has two patents for electronic car design to his name.

Tokai University is a prestigious private university based in the Japanese capital, which was founded in 1924. It is focused on the sciences and technology and roughly 60 per cent of all students are enrolled in these schools.

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Ranking List Of Top 100 Universities In Africa (Check If Your School Made It)

Acquiring knowledge is pertinent, but what preeminently prevails is the source and quality of the information you obtain which in-turn defines your learnedness.

The world university ranking (4icu.org) is a renowned authorized site that rates most of the major higher institutions across the globe. African Universities just like others aren’t an exception.



Below is the list of top 100 universities in Africa (2015).

1 University of Cape: Town South Africa
2 University of Pretoria: South Africa
3 Universiteit Stellenbosch: South Africa
4 University of the Witwatersrand: South Africa
5 University of South Africa: South Africa
6 The American University in Cairo: Egypt
7 Cairo University: Egypt
8 Mansoura University: Egypt
9 Alexandria University: Egypt
10 University of Dar es Salaam: Tanzania
11 University of KwaZulu-Natal: South Africa
12 Rhodes University: South Africa
13 Ain Shams University: Egypt
14 Assiut University: Egypt
15 University of the Western Cape: South Africa
16 Université Mohammed V – Agdal: Morocco
17 University of Johannesburg: South Africa
18 Université de Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso
19 University of Nairobi: Kenya
20 University of Lagos: Nigeria
21 Makerere University: Uganda
22 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University: South Africa
23 Obafemi Awolowo University: Nigeria
24 University of Ghana: Ghana
25 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane: Mozambique
26 Misurata University: Libya
27 The German University in Cairo: Egypt
28 North-West University: South Africa
29 Benha University: Egypt
30 Zagazig University: Egypt
31 Université de la Reunion: Reunion
32 University of Botswana: Botswana
33 Al Akhawayn University: Morocco
34 University of Namibia: Namibia
35 Université Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen: Algeria
36 Université Cheikh Anta Diop: Senegal
37 University of Khartoum: Sudan
38 University of Ibadan: Nigeria
39 Helwan University: Egypt
40 Sudan University of Science and Technology: Sudan
41 University of Ilorin: Nigeria
42 Université Mentouri de Constantine: Algeria
43 Covenant University: Nigeria
44 Université Mouloud Maameri de Tizi Ouzou: Algeria
45 University of Swaziland: Swaziland
46 Université de Batna: Algeria
47 Université d’Alger: Algeria
48 University of Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe
49 Université Mohammed V – Souissi: Morocco
50 South Valley University: Egypt
51 Tanta University: Egypt
52 Moi University: Kenya
53 Université Kasdi Merbah de Ouargla: Algeria
54 Université Abdelmalek Essadi: Morocco
55 Minoufiya University: Egypt
56 Université Cadi Ayyad: Morocco
57 Federal University of Technology, Minna: Nigeria
58 Minia University: Egypt
59 University of Zambia: Zambia
60 Université d’Oran: Algeria
61 Addis Ababa University: Ethiopia
62 Université Djillali Liabes: Algeria
63 Université Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Mostaganem: Algeria
64 Al-Azhar University: Egypt
65 Kenyatta University: Kenya
66 Université Hassan II – Casablanca: Morocco
67 Suez Canal University: Egypt
68 Kafr el-Sheikh University: Egypt
69 Universiteit van die Vrystaat: South Africa
70 Cape Peninsula University of Technology: South Africa
71 Université M’hamed Bouguerra de Boumerdes: Algeria
72 Université Ibn Tofail: Morocco
73 Université Hassan II Mohammedia – Casablanca: Morocco
74 University of Nigeria: Nigeria
75 Université d’Antananarivo: Madagascar
76 University of Malawi: Malawi
77 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology: Ghana
78 Universidade de Cabo Verde: Cape Verde
79 Polytechnic of Namibia: Namibia
80 Tshwane University of Technology: South Africa
81 University of Benin: Nigeria
82 Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediène: Algeria
83 Mbarara University of Science & Technology: Uganda
84 Strathmore University: Kenya
85 University of Port Harcourt: Nigeria
86 Ahmadu Bello University: Nigeria
87 Al Jabal Al Gharbi University: Libya
88 University of Agriculture, Abeokuta: Nigeria
89 Université Mohamed Khider de Biskra: Algeria
90 University of Shendi: Sudan
91 University of Mauritius: Mauritius
92 Durban University of Technology: South Africa
93 Université de Tunis El Manar: Tunisia
94 Université de la Manouba: Tunisia
95 Landmark University: Nigeria
96 Fayoum University: Egypt
97 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology: Kenya
98 Vaal University of Technology: South Africa
99 Université Ferhat Abbas Sétif: Algeria
100 Université Hassiba Ben Bouali de Chlef: Algeria

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