The Senate has extended the validity of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board from one year to three years.
The Upper Chamber during its plenary on Thursday also scrapped the post-UTME examinations conducted by universities before admitting students.
With this new bill, which is subject to the assent by President Muhammadu Buhari before becoming a law, candidates with old results will, henceforth, be given preference over new UTME candidates in subsequent admission processes.
The validity extension and post-UTME scrapping were parts of the amendments made to the law establishing JAMB.
The Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, which presented its report on “A Bill for An Act to Amend the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Act and for Other Matters Connected Thereof, 2016 SB.245” to the chamber during Thursday’s plenary, said the purpose of the bill was to amend the JAMB Act to increase the validity period of JAMB examination from one academic year to three academic years.
The Senate had passed the bill for the second reading on June 1, 2016, before referring it to the committee.
The committee said, in considering the bill, it made reference to the contributions of the lawmakers regarding the financial hardship experienced yearly by parents and guardians who sponsor candidates for UTME.
The bill was passed unamimously by Senators.
