University of Abuja opted to screen new students for the second year in a row rather than conduct its own internal matriculation tests.
This year, its decision to screen comes on the heels of the ongoing strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The screening was verbal and brief once candidates appeared before a panel after first being cleared through security.
Only candidates were let through school gates and shuttled aboard buses to the screening venue on order of the school authorities.
They had to present an original of their matriculation result slip and a N1,000 bank draft for the screening.
“They didn’t ask any questions,” said a student who put in for microbiology. “It wasn’t like an interview. They just looked at my result, looked at my score and other papers, then they said we will hear from them.”
Uniabuja got around the hassle of ongoing strike by making its screening a non-academic and strictly academic exercise, negating need for lecturers to set and grade test scripts.
It is the second school to attempt internal matriculation screening in the face of ongoing strike after the union dissociated from UNIJOS on
account of its staging a screening.
The two-day screening made brisk business for traders who pre-bought N1000 bank drafts–a requirement for access–and sold them to
candidates at the gates for up to N2500.
Candidates say commercial banks also jacked up prices on drafts, charging up to N1700.
