From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Worried by the stiff competition for space owing to the increasing number of prospective candidates seeking admission into the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Eberendu Ahaneku, has appealed to rich parents who can afford to pay higher fees charged by other universities to seek admission elsewhere for their children so that brilliant students from poor families can be admitted into UNIZIK.
Speaking recently during the 2016/2017 matriculation, Ahaneku disclosed that an appraisal of the admission process shows that about 80,000 candidates had made Nnamdi Azikiwe University their first choice out of which only 7820 were admitted based on the quota system and carrying capacity approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Asked what can be done about candidates who earnestly want to study in UNIZIK but are being denied the opportunity because of space, Ahaneku said that UNIZIK is a place for most brilliant students only.
“That is why we keep saying, those who have money, the super-rich should send their children to some other places and leave the space for those who are very brilliant because we want to produce very brilliant people for the Nigerian society,” he said. “Nnamdi Azikiwe University is a federal institution meant for those who are very bright and we are here to support and help them to provide solution to mankind and for Nigerian society. This is a problem solving entity and we want to ensure that we provide solutions to our problems and challenges.”
Asked why the numbers of students that seek admission into UNIZIK keep increasing every year, Prof. Ahaneku pointed at several factors that include the uninterrupted academic calendar run by UNIZIK, the low fees charged and high level of discipline inculcated in the students.
Throwing more light on the 2016 admission process, Ahaneku clarified that UNIZIK had to adopt another screening method to ensure that the right candidates were admitted.
“This year we had to screen using qualifying certificates such as the SSCE, GCE, NECO, NABTEB and the JAMB scores and for direct entries, the A levels, NCE and all that,” he said. “The UTME candidates, it was a matrix between JAMB scores, WAEC or NECO as the case may be. For any candidate that applied to read medicine, for instance, the candidate must have scored very well in physics, chemistry, biology, English and mathematics. For engineering, physics, chemistry and mathematics are compulsory.
“For a candidate with a D in any of the qualifying subjects, it is automatic disqualification because there are so many others that scored higher. Somehow, somebody may score higher in JAMB but may be disqualified because of low grades in WAEC, NECO etc. Sometimes, parents or guardians maybe saying that their wards scored higher but didn’t get admission but they never knew that we deal with aggregates in all of this. Imagine that we had close to 7,000 applying for medicine for only 100 spaces available.”
Speaking earlier during the matriculation, Ahaneku who revealed that the university at present runs more than 101 academic programmes accredited by NUC and regulatory professional bodies, and linkage programmes with eighteen world-renown universities spread across the United States of America, China, Europe and Africa in addition to the ones with six local institutions, noted that 75% attendance of lectures is compulsory for students while lecturers are being monitored to ensure that they also attend lectures as when due.