Aside the final high/secondary school examination conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), admission-seekers still have to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). It is also via their official website that you can check JAMB admission status.

As if that is not enough, each institution is still allowed to conduct entrance examination for candidates. Then what is the essence of the first entrance examination conducted by JAMB? Proponents of this multiple examinations would claim that this ensures a higher standard of admission into colleges and universities in Nigeria. Other would however disagree because, even though the the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board conducts the first entrance exam and sets the general cut-off point for admission, the schools still have the liberty of setting their own cut-off marks, albeit a point that should not be less than what is set by the regulatory body.

I tend to lean towards the proponents of multiple examinations because it definitely sets the standards by setting the minimum cut-off mark allowed for admission into various institutions. Left to some institutions, especially the private institutions that are money-driven, admission slots will only be 'sold' to the highest bidders. For this reasons, the government of Nigeria should continue to maintain the multiple examinations.

Furthermore, since these examinations are not used in isolation as the single criterion for admission, I see no reason why any of the examinations should be discontinued. Admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges are awarded using a combination of factors, only two of which are these two exams under the microscope.

Many students who seek admission believe the whole admission process is cumbersome and unnecessarily expensive because some schools use this to extort applicants. They invite too many candidates than they can admit to apply for admission for the sole purpose of making money through what is known as Post-UTME application fees.

Finally, for these reasons that I have highlighted, JAMB should continue to conduct the UTME be the the one that hosts the admission portal. As it is right now, candidates have to check school admission status and JAMB admission status. Until someone can proffer a better solution, candidates should keep writing UTME and Post-UTME.