Lagos Rejects JAMB’s 150 Cut-Off, Says Candidates Below 185 Won’t get State Universities

The Lagos State Government has declared that candidates who score below 185 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will not be admitted into any of its state-owned universities.

The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Tolani Sule, made this known on Wednesday during a ministerial press briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, as part of activities marking the third anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office.

Sule faulted the decision of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to fix 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for tertiary institution admissions, describing the benchmark as too low for Lagos-owned universities.

“To us in Lagos State, the cut-off marks approved by JAMB look too low for our universities. None of our three universities is admitting any student who scored below 185 in the UTME,” he said.

The commissioner argued that Lagos, given its educational standing, should not lower its academic standards to align with states facing educational disadvantages.

“For JAMB to announce 150 as the cut-off mark out of the 400 obtainable marks in the UTME for this year’s admission seekers is very low. Lagos cannot be considered educationally disadvantaged to the extent of bringing its cut-off mark down to meet what Sokoto or Zamfara states require,” Sule added.

He stressed that the state government would continue to invest heavily in educational infrastructure and expand access to tertiary education without compromising academic quality.

According to him, Lagos recently increased the number of state-owned universities from one to three as part of efforts to widen access to higher education.

“Increasing our universities from one to three is still part of what the state governor is doing to provide more educational platforms and opportunities for Lagos residents,” he said.

Sule further disclosed that the state government was collaborating with the Ministry of Health on legislation aimed at establishing a University of Medicine and Health Sciences in the state.