Senate asks FG to shelve NIN as condition for UTME

The Senate has appealed to the Federal Government to shelve its stance on National Identity Number (NIN) as a prerequisite for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The upper legislative chamber advised the Ministry of Education, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to review the policy with a view to extending the UTME registration deadline and requirements until the procedure for the registration become less cumbersome and tedious.

It equally urged the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Identity Management Commission to consider decentralization of the NIN registration process to ultimately bring the accreditation to the doorsteps of the students preferably near their various accredited school premises.

The resolutions were sequel to a motion by Senator representing Anambra South on the platform of Young People’s Party, Ifeanyi Uba.

He noted that the policy was premature, inconsiderate which has compounded the rigor of registration for UTME examination and procuring the NIN.

He further maintained that statistics available to him revealed that last year, more than two million candidates registered for the JAMB examination and that the introduction of NIN was bound to erode the number of registered candidates this year since the majority of these candidates are just attaining the age when they can obtain the NIN.

“This is a brazen infringement on the right to education of young Nigerians who may not be able to meet the deadline to obtain their NIN and register for JAMB.”

He consequently urged the Senate to seek for the suspension of the policy until the conditions for obtaining NIN improves tremendously.

Speaking in support of the motion, Senator representing Anambra Central, Uche Lilian Ekwunife said there was still a lack of awareness on NIN at the grassroots, secondary schools and universities, as many students were unaware that the national identification number was a requirement for examination registration.

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