AUTHORITIES of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) has allayed the fears of Awaiting Result candidates who applied to the university for the 2012/2013 academic session that they still have the hope of being admitted.

The Head of Admissions in the university, Mr Abdussobur Salaam, who gave this assurance in a telephone interview with Education Tribune, assured the candidates who are yet to get their SSCE (Senior Secondary Certificate Examination) result that the doors have not been shut on them as admission could only come to a conclusive end when matriculation commences.”

Debunking rumours making the rounds that the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta has concluded its admission process for the 2012/2013 session, Abdussobur explained that though, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board gave them a September 30 deadline, towards which the school is working, if the West African Examinations Council release the candidates’ results on time, “we will still accommodate those of them who qualify because as at now, out of the 3,500 slots we have this year, we have only given admission to 2,000, leaving over 1,000 admission slots yet to be filled.”

He, however, pointed out that closure of admission process “depends on respective school’s date of resumption,” which may make the dates to vary from school to school.

As the candidates’ hopes hang on the West African Examinations Council, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the council, Mr Yusuf Ari, also in a telephone chat, gave the assurance that the results would be released on schedule because “the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is working so hard to process the papers.”

“Remember that some of the candidates finished their SSCE in June and WAEC has the tradition of releasing results 90 days after the examination. The papers are not objective and they need to be meticulously processed. However, last year, we were able to release the results before the scheduled date, they were released on August 10 and this year, we hope to still repeat that feat, or even do better,” Ari stated.

However, on the issue of deadline, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has set October 31st as deadline for admissions into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for the 2012/2013 academic session.

This followed the successful completion of the combined technical meeting on the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) admissions, which considered admission of students to First, Second, and Third Choice, Most Preferred Degree, National Diploma, National Innovation and Nigeria Certificate in Education-awarding institutions for the 2012/2013 session.

Public Relations Officer of JAMB, Mr Timothy Oyedeji, who confirmed the development to Education Tribune in Abuja, said the move was to forestall late admissions by tertiary institutions.

He expressed concern that lack of uniform admissions, as a result of distorted academic calendar year, posed serious challenge to the board.

Oyediji further noted that this late admission was peculiar to some universities and that the Board was determined to ensure that admissions into all tertiary institutions were conducted within a specified time in order to correct the anomalies.

He said the board, in taking the decision, took into consideration the candidates awaiting results and hoped that their results would be released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) before the closing date.