For the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination, which was administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, 367,499 individuals applied for the 43,717 openings in the Medicine Departments of Nigerian universities.
The majority of test takers said that medicine was their first choice for a university degree of study, according to statistics received from JAMB.
The tertiary admission test board in Nigeria is called JAMB. The board administers the UTME entrance exam for applicants to undergraduate programmes at Nigerian universities.
The admissions body’s 2022 UTME/Direct Entry exams attracted no fewer than 1.8 million applicants.
In contrast to the 43,717 available spaces, 367,499 applicants applied to study medicine in 2022, according to the board’s most recent figures.
It was also discovered that 204,734 students applied for scientific-related courses despite 132,796 openings, while 231,907 students applied for social science courses despite 93,277 openings.
A further analysis showed that 72,014 students applied for courses under the Arts and Humanities category despite 48,744 vacancies, 103,891 students applied for courses related to technology, and 81,653 students applied for courses related to law despite 8,529 vacancies.
Despite the fact that there were numerous openings in the faculties, JAMB observed that less candidates applied for degrees connected to agriculture and education.
For instance, just 53,612 applicants submitted applications despite there being 111,601 openings for Education programmes across all Nigerian universities.
The board also observed that 21,568 applicants applied for Agriculture even though there were 31,217 openings at the nation’s institutions.
As part of the board’s policy meeting in Abuja last Thursday, the board’s Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, met with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and the leaders of other agencies.
“Look at Medicine for instance, we had 367,499 for vacancy of 43,717 which means we only have vacancy of 11.90 per cent for those that applied.
“Same thing with Social Science, but when you come to Education, you have 53,000 applicants for position of over 100,000 which means that even if you admit all those who applied for Education even if they don’t have the qualifications, we still have vacancies. That is why for such persons, if only they have their O’level results, they get admitted.
“The UTME is a factor of inadequacy in syntax of number. If we have enough vacancies, we will probably not have UTME. Same thing with agriculture, Agric is even worse than education,” Oloyede reportedly said at the meeting.
Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, the programme director for Reform Education Nigeria, commented on the situation and emphasised the importance of properly sensitising secondary school students.
Oluwatoyin said, “We live in an age when it doesn’t matter your course of study. What matters are the required skills. There used to be a time when people used to think that if you are not a doctor or a nurse, you won’t be successful. This is not right, these days we have people venturing into tech jobs among others.
“Another factor is the unequal distribution of jobs across sectors. These days, people believe that once you study Education, you will end up as a teacher in one private school or if you study Agriculture, you won’t get a proper job.
“The government itself needs to set the pace to ensure that there is investment in every sector. When you invest in Agriculture, Education and there are good jobs, you will see that applicants will continue to apply and it will reduce this imbalance we are looking at.”
