The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said the cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions were reduced to encourage as many Nigerians as possible to school at home.
JAMB said rather than have a situation where Nigerians enrol in “mushroom universities” and “glorified secondary schools” in Ghana, Uganda and Gambia, the board decided to take the heavily-criticised course of action.
The examination body said “tertiary institutions hardly fill their available spaces”, and that the need to go abroad is not caused by a “shortage of spaces or standards” but “partly” due to unrealistic benchmarks.
According to JAMB, the worst admitted cut-off mark in a Nigerian institution is “far better than allowing them to fly out to some of the institutions they are attending”.
JAMB reiterated that the decision was collectively made by vice chancellors of tertiary institutions, and as such, none can reject it.
