APGA chieftain calls for scrapping of JAMB

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) chieftain, Dr Chinedu
Ekwalo, has called for scraping of the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), saying it was more of money-making than
placement of students.

Ekwalo made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
on Tuesday when he visited the party's headquarters in Abuja to pick
Expression of Interest and Nomination forms.

According to him, JAMB had become more of a revenue generating
organisation than an academic channel for children to tertiary
institutions.

"I want JAMB to be scrapped and the reason is because Nigerian
universities put together, has a carrying capacity of 600, 000 people
and every year we have no fewer than two million persons who sit for
JAMB.

"Even if universities should absorb more than their capacities, there
are always many who remained without admission, and this happens
annually.

"JAMB, for me is just a waste of time, because when it was established
in the '70s, its primary responsibility was to serve as a vehicle that
will move our children from secondary to tertiary institutions.

"Today, the only thing the examination body does is remitting several
billions of naira to the government, which ask it to start generating
revenue for this nation,'' he said

Ekwalo, who is aspirant for Anambra North Senatorial seat in the
National Assembly in 2019, also called for review of educational laws
of the country to accommodate the peculiarities of the society and
make the system better.

He said that innovations introduced by JAMB had not in any way
improved the standard of education in the country.

He also said the huge fees the university admissions body usually
demanded from applicants had devastating effect on poor Nigerians who
wanted to go school but lacked the means.

"We have to make Nigeria home for our people and one of the ways we
can do that is to look into the education system; there is need to
overhaul the system.

"This will pave way for a lot of innovations and youths will have the
capacity to express their creativity and make the nation better since
they are the majority," he added.