Stop Giving Preferential Scores To Northern Students, El-Rufai Tells JAMB

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has urged the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board to stop giving “preferential
scores” to students in Northern Nigeria who sit for the Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

He stated this on Monday as a guest on Channels Television’s
‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme.

According to the governor, students in the North should not be
given lower cut-off marks but the same cut-off marks as their
counterparts from other parts of the country for them to be
competitive nationally and internationally.

Established in 1978, JAMB is the government agency saddled with
the responsibility “to conduct matriculation examinations for entry
into all universities polytechnics and colleges of education in the
country and to place suitably qualified candidates in the available
places in these institutions”.

Before now, JAMB set cut-off marks across the country but the
Board recently cancelled general cut-off marks for admission into
tertiary institutions for the 2021/2022 academic session and gave
institutions the freedom to set their individual minimum benchmark
for admission.

El-Rufai also said the current closure of schools in the state
was the major goal of bandits and terrorists oppressing the state
but he vowed that they won’t win.

He said, “The north has always been behind in education, we’ve
continuously been the disadvantaged region right from independence
even though we’re given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That
has not helped, in fact, it has made our people lazy.

“Against this differential JAMB and FG (Federal Government)
scores, I think people should be encouraged to work hard and
compete and we are prepared to make our children in Kaduna State to
be competitive, not only in the state but globally.

“The schools are closed now because, on the advice of security
agencies, they need a couple of months to undertake massive
security operations. They are doing that. We are confident that
from the next two weeks, we would start the gradual reopening of
schools.

“We have moved many of our students in rural areas that we are
not sure we can protect to urban schools, thereby increasing the
congestion in urban schools that we can protect.”

“The continuous closure of schools is exactly what bandits and
Boko Haram want and we are not going to let them win but we must
put the safety of our children and teachers first,” the governor
noted, adding that the gradual reopening of schools would commence
soon.

Furthermore, the governor said that the state has attracted over
$3bn foreign and local investments in the last two years despite
the menace of banditry.

According to him, the Nigeria Police Force and other security
agencies are overwhelmed, hence, the need to train hundreds of
vigilantes who will bear arms and confront the marauders who
operate from the forests of Kaduna.

“This banditry is essentially a rural phenomenon but it has
moved to the urban areas,” the governor lamented.

He said that when the menace of banditry started in the state
about three years ago, “it was essentially a rural phenomenon and
that has not affected our ability to attract investments in the
state”.

“In the last two years, we’ve attracted more than $2bn, close to
$3bn of foreign and domestic investments into the state.

“We’ve also engaged in massive infrastructure across the state,
everywhere,” el-Rufai explained.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has urged the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board to stop giving “preferential
scores” to students in Northern Nigeria who sit for the Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

He stated this on Monday as a guest on Channels Television’s
‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme.

According to the governor, students in the North should not be
given lower cut-off marks but the same cut-off marks as their
counterparts from other parts of the country for them to be
competitive nationally and internationally.

Established in 1978, JAMB is the government agency saddled with
the responsibility “to conduct matriculation examinations for entry
into all universities polytechnics and colleges of education in the
country and to place suitably qualified candidates in the available
places in these institutions”.

Before now, JAMB set cut-off marks across the country but the
Board recently cancelled general cut-off marks for admission into
tertiary institutions for the 2021/2022 academic session and gave
institutions the freedom to set their individual minimum benchmark
for admission.

El-Rufai also said the current closure of schools in the state
was the major goal of bandits and terrorists oppressing the state
but he vowed that they won’t win.

He said, “The north has always been behind in education, we’ve
continuously been the disadvantaged region right from independence
even though we’re given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That
has not helped, in fact, it has made our people lazy.

“Against this differential JAMB and FG (Federal Government)
scores, I think people should be encouraged to work hard and
compete and we are prepared to make our children in Kaduna State to
be competitive, not only in the state but globally.

“The schools are closed now because, on the advice of security
agencies, they need a couple of months to undertake massive
security operations. They are doing that. We are confident that
from the next two weeks, we would start the gradual reopening of
schools.

“We have moved many of our students in rural areas that we are
not sure we can protect to urban schools, thereby increasing the
congestion in urban schools that we can protect.”

“The continuous closure of schools is exactly what bandits and
Boko Haram want and we are not going to let them win but we must
put the safety of our children and teachers first,” the governor
noted, adding that the gradual reopening of schools would commence
soon.

Furthermore, the governor said that the state has attracted over
$3bn foreign and local investments in the last two years despite
the menace of banditry.

According to him, the Nigeria Police Force and other security
agencies are overwhelmed, hence, the need to train hundreds of
vigilantes who will bear arms and confront the marauders who
operate from the forests of Kaduna.

“This banditry is essentially a rural phenomenon but it has
moved to the urban areas,” the governor lamented.

He said that when the menace of banditry started in the state
about three years ago, “it was essentially a rural phenomenon and
that has not affected our ability to attract investments in the
state”.

“In the last two years, we’ve attracted more than $2bn, close to
$3bn of foreign and domestic investments into the state.

“We’ve also engaged in massive infrastructure across the state,
everywhere,” el-Rufai explained.