JAMB: Former INEC Chairman Gets Major Appointment

A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has been tasked to chair the JAMB committee on the internalisation of admission into tertiary institutions.

This was made known by the JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, during the inauguration of the committee.

According to the Registrar, the committee was to put in place the machinery to attract foreign students into Nigerian tertiary institutions, starting from the 2019/2020 academic session.

Oloyede said that members of the committee include a former Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof Olugbemiro Jegede, and a former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof Olushola Oyewole and seven others.

The Jega-led admission committee is expected to create strategies on international admissions, partnerships and academic programmes, as well as the promotion of foreign language programmes.

The board said, “The immediate past Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega, has been appointed as Chairman of the Committee on Internationalisation of Admissions into Tertiary Educational Institutions in Nigeria. The committee was conceived during the 2019 Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities in Egypt in July.

“The JAMB registrar said setting up the committee had become necessary in the view of the prevailing localisation of tertiary institutions in the country. The committee is encouraged to support tertiary institutions, particularly the universities, on how to attract foreign candidates into the Nigerian education system.

“The Jega-led committee is also charged with suggesting veritable means through which the foreign centres of JAMB can attract more candidates, especially Nigerians in the diaspora, to apply for admission in Nigerian universities.”