Post-UME: A Curse or Blessing to Nigerian Students?

By Msonter Anzaa

Introduction

There was a period when the process of applying for admission into Nigerian universities was easier than it is today. Those days, all one needed do was sit for the Universities Matriculation Exams, UME, conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB. Upon successful performance in the exam, the candidate was almost sure of securing admission into the institution of choice. Most times, the admission letter was processed and sent to the applicant’s mailing address. However, following the introduction of the Post-Universities Matriculation Examination, Post-UME, by the universities, this changed. These days, candidates have an extra hurdle to cross. A lot of debate has gone on regarding whether the Post-UME is a blessing or a curse to Nigerian students in their quest for higher education. This essay argues that the exam is a curse and advances reasons for this position.

The Post-UME is not necessary

To begin with, the Post-UME is absolutely unnecessary in the process of determining those qualified for admission into universities. The argument often advanced by its supporters among whom are the university authorities is that the standards of the UME have fallen and the Post-UME is needed to ensure credibility in the process. While this may be true on one hand, it is false on another. No one denies that the UME has fallen short of credible standards. We are all aware that the malaise of exam malpractice has swept over the UME like an evil tsunami. In many centers across the country, the conduct of the exam has become a commercial activity where unemployed graduates and even school teachers swarm around the venue, solving exam questions for their clients and taking to their banks huge sums of money in return. Now, I admit that there is need to curb this evil trend.

I however, differ with those who argue that the way to deal with this problem is to create another exam for applicants. The Post-UME has been devised with the noble goal of stemming this tide, but it has not always succeeded in doing so. The way to do away with a defective system is not to replicate it. The Post-UME – no matter the noble arguments advanced in its favour – is nothing other than a replica of the UME. To restore credibility to the admission exams, it is not necessary to create another exam. Instead, it is necessary to eliminate the fundamental factors that make it impossible for the exam to be credible. If we assume that the more exams there are to admission, the more credible the successful candidates, we would be making a huge mistake.

The Post-UME encourages waste and economic exploitation

In addition to being unnecessary, the Post-UME also encourages waste. To begin with, it puts candidates at risk of accidents, having to traverse the length and breadth of this country in order to sit for the exam. This is unlike the UME which has centers across the nation. In a special report on the subject in July 2012, Vanguard Newspaper reports that “admission seekers are believed to have died either on that flight or in road accidents while going to sit for Post-UTME tests in some other universities which are yet to be ascertained.”

Again, the Post-UME has become a means of economically exploiting the students. Many universities across the nation charge exorbitant fees for this exam. Not only that, they invite thousands of candidates for the exam, sometimes five times more than they can admit. They simply receive payment from this large number and turn round and admit a very negligible percent. The total amount of money lost in these instances is a huge economic drain on those families.

The Post-UME has no standard

One fearful reality about the Post-UME is that it has no standard. Candidates going for this exam do not know what standard being used to assess them. This is so because of the different ways the universities conduct the exams. In some schools, the Post-UME questions are set according to the courses of choice of the candidates. In most however, due to the work required for this, general questions are just set and presented to these candidates. Questions are drawn from current affairs, logic and many other areas that may not relate directly to the area of choice of the candidates. This is not a fair standard for assessment. For instance, what is the justification for denying someone who applied to study medicine admission just because he does not know when Nigeria became an independent nation?

Conclusion

This essay has argued that the though the UME has failed to keep standards of credibility, the Post-UME is not the solution to the crisis. It believes the Post-UME is an unnecessary duplicate of the UME; it is wasteful and has no uniform standards. Therefore, the Post-UME is a curse and not a blessing to Nigerian students seeking university admission.

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