The University of Jos has begun the screening of 25, 000 applicants for admission in the 2016/2017 academic session, an official said in Jos on Tuesday.
The Principal Assistant Registrar (information and Publications) of the university, Mr Abdullahi Abdullahi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the applicants were those sent to the institution by JAMB.
Abdullahi said the university would admit 7, 000 of the applicants, adding that the Faculty of Medicine had the highest number of qualified applicants with 10, 000 competing for the available slots.
He said that the screening, which began on Monday, Sept. 5, was initially scheduled to be completed on Sept. 14 but was extended by two days.
He said the date was extended because of the two-day public holiday to mark the Eid el-Kabir festival, adding that the exercise would now end on Friday, Sept. 16.
He said the university would strictly adhere to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB’s) guidelines that emphasised merit, educationally disadvantaged areas and catchment areas.
“The guidelines are very clear and exact; it is difficult to deviate because we have to defend every single admission offer before JAMB,” he said.
Abdullahi said that the screening process had been very smooth “in spite of teething problems”.
“It is the first time that we are using the current criteria for admission, so the teething problems were just normal at the onset but everybody is now conversant with the process,” he explained.
The official said that the challenges were very massive at the beginning because most applicants preferred to process everything at the university campus.
He said the development led to massive congestion on the network with many applicants logging in at the same time.
To cope with the pressure, Abdullahi said that many officers had been moved from their traditional functions to assist and speed up the admission screening processes.
“There is also an ad hoc committee to handle the admission to ease the pressure on the various departments,” he said.
Abdullahi assured all the applicants that everyone would be screened “even if he or she pays the required fees on the very last day”.