Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Thursday gave N75 million award to each of the five best performing tertiary institutions in the country.
The University of Ilorin won the Most Subscribed Institution by Candidates award, while Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, won the Most National Institution in Admission of Candidates.
Federal University, Wukari, Taraba, won the Most Improved institution in Gender Balance, while the University of Ilorin again won the Institution with the Highest Number of Admitted International Students.
Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbese, won the Most Compliant Institution in keeping to guidelines of admissions.
It was the second edition of the National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award for 2019.
Congratulating the award recipients, Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu, lauded JAMB’s efforts at ensuring excellence in tertiary institutions.
He said that the Federal Government would continue to play a critical role in teaching, learning and research adding that the exercise was one of government’s reward system and intervention in tertiary institutions.
“In the first edition of the awards in 2019, JAMB supported tertiary institutions with N125 million and this year, the board is supporting the sector with N375 million.
“This is no doubt an excellent gesture worthy of emulation. I am aware that the board’s support for the education sector cuts across the basic, secondary and tertiary education levels and it is a good Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.
“I am equally aware that many other agencies, the organised private sector, individuals, NGOs, international agencies and many others are supporting the education sector in various forms and quantum.
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“Contributions to the education sector should not be limited to budgetary allocation of government to the sector.
“This does not negate the reality that education is not receiving equitable share of the national budget,’’ he said.
He urged the National Bureau of Statistics, the Federal Ministry of National Planning and resources centres in the education sector to make concerted efforts to always elicit information from heads of institutions.
This, he explained, would help to document all forms of interventions such as the JAMB’s Performance Merit Award in order to fully appreciate the enormity of the resources committed to the sector.
The minister also challenged the runners-up and other institutions to rise to the occasion at the next edition to give the second edition’s winners a healthy contest.
In his remarks, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said that the institutions were expected to use the money judiciously to construct campus roads.
Oloyede said the awards, which were based on certain criteria listed by the board, were meant to improve the education sector as well as encourage institutions to maintain global standards.
