Why Post-UTME was scrapped –Ex-NUC Executive Secretary

The immediate-past Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Julius Okojie, on Wednesday explained that the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination was scrapped to protect admission seekers from being swindled.

He spoke at a welcome reception organised for him by the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where he taught until 15 years ago.

He was the vice chancellor of FUNAAB and later that of Bells University of Technology, Ota, before he was appointed the executive secretary of NUC.

Mr. Okojie, a professor, said the decision to scrap the post-UMTE became necessary to stop the cumbersome process of admission into the universities.

He also explained that the measure would have no effect on the autonomy of the senate of any institution and its authority to determine who to admit and when to admit candidates.

He said, “The post UTME has come in different manners. It can come in interview form, it can be screening. But in all, the Senate reserves the authority. The autonomy of the Senate is always there, they can decide when to admit, how to admit and who to admit.”

“What government is saying is that there shouldn’t be too much divergent to the extent that we are swindling the students. Ordinarily we should leave the universities to handle their issues.”

Mr. Okojie also justified the appointment of an acting Vice Chancellor for the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Osun State, saying the NUC got the senate of the institution to act on the issue because it had the autonomy to do so.

“One of the major challenges I faced at the NUC was the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of Ife. When it came though, I had to use my God given wisdom and the knowledge of the system to resolve the issue,” he said.

“The autonomy of the NUC was on trial and we needed the Senate to regulate the steps of appointment. Yes, they make laws but they also regulate the law and they can always change what the laws they had made.

So, we got the Senate to act on this occasion to choose an acting vice chancellor but there were issues on that. Some people were asking – what was the essence of the NUC’s autonomy? Why are we asking the president to direct the Senate? But there an aspect of the law that gives the Senate the autonomy to decide on that and that is what we did.”

Mr. Okojie said he was not sacked by the federal government, explaining that he had written the government through the Minister of Education two and half months before he left office notifying them of his plan to leave office.

He also said a month before he left office, he wrote the minister notifying him of his plan to hand over to the most senior officer in the Commission.

He attributed his achievements at the NUC to teamwork, saying “I worked with many people; it can not only be my own legacy. Our legacy is – we have left the university system better than we met it. So, it was a collective effort of everybody and not my legacy alone.”

In his remark, the Vice Chancellor of FUNAAB, Olusola Oyewole, extolled the attributes of the former NUC scribe who he described as a visionary leader.

“As a leader, the vision that he has for FUNAAB is still there and we are proud that while he was away he represented us well and he didn’t let us down”‎,Mr. Oyewole, a professor said

“Here is a man who is generous to the core; here is a man who will say it the way it is from his mind. Here is a man who will not quarrel with you, but, if you cross him in his own way, he will tell you that he doesn’t like that thing you have done and that is the end of it.”

“In the past ten years he has been able to hold on to the leadership of the university system in this country as the Executive Secretary of the NUC and I believe the grace of God was on his side and he was able to hand over to a successor before he left the place. It is indeed a great honour to have in our midst the first Vice Chancellor to have left this university and be able to come back to our midst.”