The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board said on Wednesday about 470,000 candidates or 28 per cent in the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination had been admitted to universities so far.
Over 1,662,000 candidates sat for the examination in March.
The board added that the reduction in the registration fee for the exam from N5,000 to N3,500 by President Muhammadu Buhari would take effect from January 1, 2019.
The Chairman of JAMB Governing Board, Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe, said the admission process in 2018 is still on.
According to him, the body is monitoring everything relating to admission on its Central Admission Processing System.
Ndukwe said the sale of the examination form would start any date from January 1, 2019, when the fee reduction would have been implemented.
The chairman spoke during an interview with our correspondent at a send off for JAMB retirees in Abuja.
Ndukwe said, “You must be aware that the Federal Government has reduced the cost of the UTME form from N5,000 to N3,500. But it is going to take effect from January 1, 2019. Therefore, if we start selling the form in December 2018, we will still sell for N5, 000, because the approval does not cover for this year. This is why we have shifted the sale of the form for the examination to any date from January 1.
“The reduction in fee also means that there will be reduction in the money the board is remitting to the coffers of the government. Admission is still ongoing. Even as we were in the board meeting on Wednesday, we were seeing the admissions updated on the monitors and it is changing by the minute.
“In 2019, we are looking forward to the full implementation of the CAPS. This is one of the best things that can happen to education in Nigeria. If anyone is qualified, the CAPS will guarantee that such person is given admission.”
At the event, the JAMB Head of Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the number of admissions so far.
“As of Wednesday afternoon, we had over 470,000 admitted candidates, displayed on the CAPS,” he said.
