The House of Representatives has approved the extension of the lifespan of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result from one year to four years.

The result’s validity extension was proposed in JAMB Act Amendment Bill which passed second reading at the House on Thursday.

Sponsored by a member of the House from Oyo State, Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, the legislation is titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (Establishment, Etc.) Act, 2021, and Other Related Matters.’

According to Akande-Sadipe, the amendment is meant to overhaul the existing Act, most especially the validity of scores, tenure of the registrar and membership of the board, among others.

The bill specifically seeks to amend Sections 5(1)(a) and 5(2) of the principal Act.

The new sections would read, “5(1)(a)(i) The general control of the conduct of matriculation examinations and admissions to courses leading to award of first Degrees, Higher National Diploma, National Diploma and Nigeria Certificate in Education by universities (by whatever name called), monotechnic/polytechnics (by whatever name called) and Colleges of Education (by whatever name called) in Nigeria which shall be valid for four years;

“5(1)(a)( ii) The conduct of entrance examinations and admission to all award of First Degrees, Higher National Diploma, National Diploma and Nigeria Certificate in Education by universities (by whatever name called), monotechnics/polytechnics (by whatever name called) and Colleges of Education (by whatever name called) in Nigeria which shall be valid for four years;

“5(2) For the avoidance of doubt, the Board shall only be responsible for determining matriculation requirements and conducting examinations and admissions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria offering academic programmes leading to the award of First Degrees, Higher National Diploma, National Diploma, Nigeria Certificate in Education and any other diploma or certificate in education courses, but shall not be responsible for examination or any other selective processes for postgraduate courses/programme and any other programme/courses offered by the tertiary institutions.”

In a related development, the House earlier on Thursday mandated its Committee on Tertiary Education to “invite the officials of JAMB with a view to resolving the current issue and all other related matters connected with technical hitches witnessed by candidates during the examination process.”

The committee is to report back to the House within seven days for further legislative action.