Popular education advocate Alex Onyia recently sparked controversy with his claim that a student in Northern Nigeria could gain admission to study Medicine and Surgery with a JAMB score of just 160.
Onyia shared on his official X account that he spoke with a man from the North whose son scored 160 in the JAMB exam and was confident of admission into Medicine, expressing concern about the admission standards in Nigerian universities.
However, Bashir Ahmad, an aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, refuted these claims emphatically.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Ahmad clarified that the general minimum cut-off mark set by JAMB for university admissions in the 2024/2025 academic session is 140, but highly competitive courses like Medicine and Surgery require much higher scores determined by individual universities.
He cited examples such as Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and the University of Port Harcourt, where the cut-off for Medicine is typically around 290, and Bayero University, Kano, where it ranges between 240 and 260.
Ahmad stated clearly, “There is no university in the North that admits students into Medicine and Surgery with a JAMB score of 160. That claim is a flat-out lie.”
He added that either Onyia’s source was not truthful or Onyia was using his platform to spread misinformation.
While some Nigerian universities accept 160 as a cut-off mark for admission into various programs, these are generally non-competitive courses and not Medicine or Surgery.
In summary, the claim that a 160 JAMB score is sufficient for admission into Medicine and Surgery programs in Northern Nigerian universities is incorrect and misleading, as confirmed by Bashir Ahmad.
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