The winning Institutions, comprising three universities, a
polytechnic, a college of education, and an innovation enterprise institution,
were presented with symbolic checks during the award ceremony held promptly
after the 2024 policy meeting on admissions to tertiary institutions, which was
also convened by JAMB in Abuja on Thursday.
As per the statement made by the JAMB Registrar, Is-haq
Oloyede, the award’s inception in 2018 aimed to acknowledge tertiary
institutions adhering to the admission guidelines and foster healthy
competition among them in this regard.
The Director of Admissions at JAMB, Mohammed Babaji, noted
that the organization has observed a substantial enhancement in adherence since
the implementation of annual prizes as an incentive for compliance.
Oloyede outlined four award categories: three sectoral
awards for polytechnics, colleges of education, and innovation enterprise
institutions (IEIs), and the overall winner category.
The overall winner will receive a cash prize of N500
million, while the first and second runners-up will receive N75 million and N25
million, respectively.
He added that the board will present a monetary award of N50
million to the most outstanding polytechnic and college of education, and N10
million to the IEI.
The Institutions are only eligible to receive the ‘overall
winner’ prize of N500 million once every five years, he clarified.
In the event that the same institution is awarded the prize
for a second time within a five-year period, the institution will be granted a
nominal prize of N40 million.
The second-place winner of that year will subsequently be
awarded the N500 million cash prize.
“To curtail serial winning by an institution, any
winner-institution of the award can only be given nominal award within five
years of full overall winning of the award,” he said
The JAMB registrar detailed that the board employed a
five-metric system to evaluate and rank the institutions, culminating in the
identification of the award recipients for the various categories.
The metrics encompass the institution that best adheres to
the policy guidelines, the institution with the highest number of candidate
subscriptions, the institution with the highest number of admitted
international students, the institution with the most significant improvement
in gender balance in student intake compared to the previous year, and the
institution with the most equitable distribution of admitted students across
Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The University of Ilorin, situated in Kwara State, emerged
as the overall victor, securing a substantial cash prize of N500 million.
Ahmadu Bello University, located in Zaria, Kaduna State, achieved the second
position, receiving a cash prize of N75 million. Borno State University,
situated in Maiduguri, Borno State, attained the third position, earning a cash
prize of N25 million.
In the sectorial award for polytechnics, the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Kaduna State, was declared the winner and received a cash prize of N50 million. The first and second runners-up in the category, Nigerian Navy School of Health Science, Offa, Kwara State, and Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo State, did not receive any cash prizes.
In the college education category, the Federal College of
Education, Zaria, Kaduna State, was awarded the top prize of N50 million.
Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, Oyo State and Federal College of
Education (Tech) Gombe, Gombe State, were recognized as the first and second
runners-up, respectively.
Within the IEI sectoral category, Pefti Film Institute,
located in Lagos, Lagos State, was declared the winner and awarded a cash prize
of N10 million. The first and second runner-up positions were secured by the
Industrial Training Fund Models Skills Training Centre in Maitama, Abuja, FCT,
and the Global Maritime Academy in Ogoni-Olomu, Ughelli South, Delta State,
respectively.