Formation of JAMB (Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board)

Last updated on December 29th, 2022 at 06:01 am

Before the establishment of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in 1978, the only seven universities owned by the federal government of Nigeria at the time conducted their entrance examination and solely determined who was qualified.

JAMB is one of the agencies of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education. It’s one of the most active in the education ministry.

The concessional examination used by the federal universities was not unified, the admission committee of such institutions use criteria they deemed fit to admit students into the various degree programme.

The system showed that there were limitations and waste of resources by the various universities on the part of the admission seekers.

By 1976, the military regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo created six additional universities and the existing problems regarding admission were compounded.

How JAMB Came About

To solve the issues of admission, the military government through the Ministry of Education inaugurated a national committee on university entrance.

Nigeria’s Minister of Education at the time Col. Ahmadu Alli announced the committee member, Mr. Michael Saidu Angulu was made the chairman.

After their sittings, the committee recommended the setting up of two bodies: 1) the Central Admissions Board, 2) the Joint Matriculation Board.

The government which accepted some of the recommendations of the committee came up with the name, “Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board” and JAMB was birthed through a Decree now an Act (no. 2 of 1978) on February 13, 1978.

At inception, JAMB’s scope was limited to conducting exams for universities but there was a policy change in the 1980s.

Expansion of JAMB Mandate

The military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) expanded the mandates of the examination body in August 1988 by amending the decree No. 2 of 1978.

No. 33 of 1989 (which took effect on December 7, 1989) empowers the Board not only conduct to universities, but to conduct matriculation examinations for admission seekers into all polytechnics, colleges of education, and other higher institutions of learning in Nigeria.

By this time, Dr. Mohammed S. Abdulrahman had been appointed as the registrar while Prof. Jubril Aminu was the Minister of Education at the time.

Core Mandate of JAMB

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board through its various departments is saddled to carry out the following functions:

1) To place suitably qualified candidates in the available places in all Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education and other Nigerian higher institutions.

2) To appoint Examiners, Moderators, Invigilators for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

3) To take into account the available vacancies and guidelines of universities before placing suitably qualified candidates in the tertiary institutions

4) To collate and disseminate information on all matters relating to admissions into tertiary institutions.

5) To give approval for a company or institution that meet the guidelines of being certified as Computer Based Test (CBT).

6) To sanction erring CBT centres across Nigeria that engage in malpractice.

Structure

JAMB is headed by a registrar who is also called the CEO and assisted by heads of departments. The incumbent head of JAMB is Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede.

He is the registrar and the Chief Executive Officer of JAMB. Oloyede was appointed the registrar of JAMB in August 2016. He was re-appointed for another five-year term in August 2021 by Muhammadu Buhari.

JAMB Departments

There are 12 departments in Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), they are:

1. Admissions Department
2. Test Development Department
3. Quality Assurance Department
4. Psychometrics Department
5. General Services Department
6. Test Administration Department
7. Finance And Account Department
8. Audit Department
9. Special Duties Department
10. Legal Department
11. Human Resources Department
12. Information Technology Services Department

Each of the departments is headed a director. The directors help the registrar in achieving the goals of the examination body.

The directors of the departments report directly to the registrar while the registrar in turn report to the Minister of Education

Governing Board

The governing board of JAMB is headed by Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe. Members of the board are: Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun , Prof. Ibiyinka A. Fuwape, Prof. Richard Anande Kimbir , Prof. Mukhtar Atiku Kurawa, Professor Abubakar Musa Kundiri, and Prof. Uba Ahmad Ali

Former and Incumbent JAMB Registrars

Since the formation JAMB on February 13, 1978, the unified examination body’s affairs has been controlled by five registrars from 1978 till date.

The JAMB registrar who is also called the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) controls the affairs of the body and holds meetings with Vice-Chancellors or registrars of higher institutions in Nigeria.

Introduction of Computer-Based Test into JAMB

Until 2013, JAMB exams were Pencil and Paper Test (PPT). It was easy for officials of the examination body to manipulate and under-declare the number of UTME forms that were sold.

Corruption was the order of the day, but by 2013, after critically studying the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) CBT format, JAMB had its first CBT across Nigeria.

Prof. Adedibu Ojerinde was JAMB CEO at the time while Prof. Oloyede was the Vice-Chancellor of UNILORIN (the inventor of CBT into UNILORIN).

Technological advancement motivated the JAMB to adopt a Computer Based Test or CBT. As such, various CBT centres were certified across Nigeria.

Challenges of CBT

Oloyede who succeeded Ojerinde brought into JAMB several years of experience in conducting CBT. Oloyede can simply be described as the real reformer in the examination body once famous for its hardened corruption and ineptitude

On assumption of office August 2006, he discovered that some accredited CBT centres were manipulating the system and other challenges.

He was quoted as saying:

“The introduction of CBT posed and still poses its own new challenges, especially with respect to our digital limitations in Africa. Those who found the innovation revolutionary were things appear difficult. Besides those who benefited from the old order of the Pencil and Paper test, PPT, waged war in forms of protests and media onslaughts at the beginning.”

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Oloyede who deployed his field marshals found some centres culpable of extortion and other activities that violate the setting up of CBT centres.

In 2019, TheGuardian reported that 14 CBT centres were deregistered for fraud; in 2021, 25 CBT centres were delisted, according to Premium Times Nigeria; in 2022 some centres were handed a severe warning for poor conduct.

Accredited JAMB CBT Centres in Nigeria

Today, approval for CBT centres is strict. CBT centres that passed through JAMB screening are saddled with the responsibility of handling candidates’ registration and sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

At the time of publication, there are 784 CBT centres that meet JAMB strict guidelines are spread across all 36 states including the FCT. You can find the centres in each of the states below

• Imo State
• Rivers State
• Kano centres
• Abia CBT Centres
• Anambra centres
• Bauchi centres
• Bayelsa Centres
• Benue Centres
• Kaduna CBT centres
• Oyo state centres
• Ekiti State centres
• Kogi centres
• Ondo State
• Kwara State
• Edo CBT locations
• Enugu State centres
• Ebonyi State centres
• Delta State centres
• Cross River State
• Niger State centres
• Plateau State centres
• Nasarawa State centres
• Ogun State CBT centres
• Lagos State CBT centres
• Osun State CBT centres
• Adamawa JAMB centres
• Akwa Ibom CBT centres
• JAMB CBT centres in Northwest

JAMB State Offices

JAMB has presence in all states and the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It is headquartered at Bwari, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria’s administrative capital.

Below is a list of JAMB state offices and annexes across Nigeria

Sources:

1. TheGuardian (August 20, 2021). “President Buhari re-appoints Oloyede as JAMB Registrar”. Guardian.ng. Retrieved March 22, 2022
2. Eniola Teniola (May 30, 2017). “JAMB and the rest of us”. vanguardngr.com. Retrieved March 25, 2022