ASUU berates FG for scrapping Post-UTME

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has strongly condemned the decision by the Federal Government to scrap the conduct of Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination otherwise referred to as the Post-UTME, saying the decision did not serve the interest of Nigerians and that the unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) conducted by JAMB is not credible enough to warrant the cancellation of the Post-UTME tests.

The President of the association, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, who addressed the press on the subject matter in Abuja on Monday, said the action by government is typical of its current lukewarm attitude towards the spirit and letters of the FGN/ASUU agreement of 2009, vowing that the union as an important stakeholder in the university system will continue to draw the attention of all concerned to possible threat to peaceful development and growth of the Nigerian Education System.

He said: ’’We consider it appalling that no consultation with stakeholders especially with ASUU and the Vice Chancellors was held before such far reaching national policy like the cancellation of Post-UTME was pronounced. In a fundamental way, the policy undermines the autonomy of universities and powers of universities’ senate as the highest policy making body on academic matters, particularly admission of students and award of university degrees’’.

The ASUU boss further questioned the veracity of the claim by the Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, that ‘’the nation has confidence in what JAMB is doing’’ and that as a result of this tertiary institutions do not need to conduct further tests towards admitting UTME candidates, saying even a former Minister of Education, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, in 2005 questioned the credibility of most JAMB high fliers, who even though they scored as high as 280 but performed abysmally low in the Post-UTME exercise.