The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it will provide the support needed to ensure that Nigerian students displaced from war-torn Sudan are integrated into the country’s universities. JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede made the announcement at a meeting with Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja on Tuesday.
In a Wednesday statement, Oloyede expressed sympathy for the students and praised NiDCOM for handling their evacuation effectively, adding that JAMB would guarantee the requested assistance. According to the Registrar;
“What we will do is that we will provide the necessary infrastructure, the necessary enablement to make you accommodate or return these candidates (students) to our educational system.
“There are procedures (for transfer of students); the transcript, the rules and regulations. Nobody should, under any illusion, believe that a Nigerian university will award a certificate with less than two years’ stay and residency in the university. The procedure will be done legitimately and adequately with the cooperation of the National Universities Commission and the individual institution.
“The guideline from JAMB has already been handed over to the commission’s chairperson.”
Oloyode, however, called on the students not to tread the path of those who returned to the country over a year ago due to the war in Ukraine and refused to comply with the stipulated procedures that would have ensured the continuation of their academic programmes seamlessly in Nigerian universities.
“If you are doing a five-year programme, you will go to year fours, because you are going to spend year four and year five.
“For instance, if you are studying medicine and you are in your 600 level, and if the Medical and Dental Council assesses what you have done and practical is okay, they will just move you to 500 level. You will do 500 level and 600 level, and you will have the certificate of the institution in Nigeria,”
Dabiri-Erewa, the NiDCOM Chairperson mentioned that they had evacuated 1,730 Nigerians from Sudan as of Tuesday. She added that most of them were students who wanted to resume their education in Nigeria. She said;
“The institutions are already saying they want to give support, they want to admit them but the key thing is to follow the process as stipulated by JAMB.
“The information is on our website, process to follow, it should not be difficult to follow. The key thing is that JAMB has assured us that it will provide the enabling environment and infrastructure, if for instance a university admits you, after the admission, you need to get that letter from JAMB that says you have been admitted, no matter what year; year 3, year 2, year 4, and I think that it is the most important thing, but all the information will be out there so that we don’t make mistakes in getting these things done.”
cc: Punch
