Breaking News: VCs urges universities to merge outstanding admission

 The PUNCH newspaper reported that Universities with outstanding admissions would strive toward a merger as the deadline for the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board's 2022 admissions approaches, Sunday PUNCH has learned.

The conduct of the 2022/2023 admissions must be completed by December 31, 2022, as set by JAMB at the 2022 policy meeting held in Abuja, the punch newspaper reported.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities' ongoing strike was recognized as a deciding factor by stakeholders at the conference.

According to a recent report by Saturday PUNCH, universities failed to fill more than 400,000 admission quotas during the 2021–2022 admissions cycle. Information from JAMB also showed that many admissions from the 2020–2021 cycle were still pending.

In a statement regarding the development, JAMB stated that the majority of universities have paused their admissions procedures because of ongoing strikes, the Punch newspaper reported.

When asked about the backlog of admissions by the Punch newspaper correspondent, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, responded, "Yes, the admissions would be merged."

ASUU had started a strike on Monday, February 14, 2022.

The union had laid the responsibility for the suspension of the 2020 strike on the government's refusal to accede to its demands.

ASUU/FG 2009 agreement renegotiations, the release of the white paper report of visiting panels to institutions, the release of revitalization money for universities, the release of earned allowances for academics, and others are some of the requests, the Punch newspaper reported.

Although the government had replied by establishing a committee led by Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs, talks failed to produce a resolution, which prompted the union to declare an indefinite strike.

Eight months later, the strike is still not over.

The Punch newspaper reported that the Parents/Stakeholders' Forum of Benue State University, Makurdi has meanwhile urged the school's ASUU members to leave the national organization so they can make up lost academic years.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the university's public relations officer, Mr. Tser Vanger, made the appeal in a statement on Saturday in Makurdi, the Punch newspaper reported.

The PSF chairperson, Mrs. Keziah Agundo, was described in the statement as expressing concern about the unused academic months and explaining that the pullout would allow the lecturers to lessen the accumulated burden.

She noted that while the admission process for the 2022 Unified Matriculation Tertiary Examination was ongoing, the undergraduate programs for 2020 and 2021 had not yet been matriculated, the Punch newspaper reported.

The Punch newspaper reported that the statement claims that Prof. Joseph Iorapuu, the university's vice chancellor, called for the institution's academic activities to resume.

He clarified that the majority of the lecturers' complaints had to do with finance.

The statement also stated that senior university administrators attended the meeting, including Dr. Victor Tarnongo, the chairman of the ASUU's BSU branch, who pledged to transmit the PSF's requests to the proper parties, the Punch newspaper reported.