FG TO SCRAP JAMB EXAM, NECO, NAPEP

The
government is taking the decision in order to streamline agencies of government
and reduce the cost of governance.

The
decision, Vanguard gathered
is part of the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye Panel Report on the reform
of government agencies and ministries.

The Oronsaye Committee
Recommendations

Mr Oronsaye who was the former Head of the Civil
Service of the Federation recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of
52 and reversal of 14 to departments in ministries.

According to the white paper, which was drafted
by a committee headed by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed
Adoke, the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board would be divested of the
powers to conduct matriculation examinations into tertiary institutions while
universities would be allowed to conduct their entrance examinations to
students.

Although the JAMB would not be scrapped, it
would be a mere administrative structure that would set standard for minimum
requirements on how  the various universities would conduct entrance
examinations.

JAMB to be re-modelled

JAMB will be modelled along same line with the
body in the United States of America which sets standards for admissions into
institutions of higher learning.

Other decisions taken by government on the
Oronsaye committee include the scrapping of the National Examinations Council,
NECO, the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP, and the National
Complaints commission.

The report
seen by Vanguard, recommended that the functions of NECO would
be assumed by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, which will also take
over the structures of NECO nationwide.

In order to make up for the deluge of students
who sit for the external examinations of Neco, WAEC would be expected to
conduct two external examinations, one in January and another in November for
external students while still running its internal examination programmes for
secondary school students.

Under the proposal, the National Poverty
Eradication Programme would be replaced by an agency called National Agency for
Job Creation and Empowerment (NAJCE) while the National Complaints Commission
will be merged with the National Human Rights Commission.

The Government rejected the recommendation
urgung the scrapping of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the Ministry of Police Affairs,
saying it would be counter productive.

A member of
the committee told Vanguard that
the decision was preparatory to government’s plans to overhaul major sectors in
the country.

“JAMB will be divested of the admission
provision. It will no longer conduct examinations but will be a clearing house.
Every school will admit its students.

“Neco will be scrapped and its infrastructure
will be merged with that of the West African Examination Council (waec).

“Universities will be allowed to set their
standards but jamb will set the minimum standard for admission into all
tertiary institutions” the source said.

Several efforts to reach the Special Adviser to
the President on Media and Publicity failed as he did not pick his phones as at
the time of this report.

It will be recalled that the Oronsaye report
stated that the average cost of governance in Nigeria is believed to rank among
the highest in the world.

Oronsaye said in his report that “there are 541
Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies (statutory and non-statutory).

“Going by the recommendations of the Committee,
the figure of statutory agencies is being proposed for reduction to 161 from
the current figure of 263.

“The Committee believes that if the cost of
governance must be brought down, then both the Legislature and Judiciary must
make spirited efforts at reducing their running costs…”