Unilorin wins N75m JAMB merit award

The University of Ilorin (Unilorin) has won the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’e (JAMB) 2020 Institution of First Choice by admission seekers in the country.

According to the university’s Bulletin issued on Monday, the award afforded the school a prize money of N75 million.

Prof. Sylvia Malomo, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), who collected the award on behalf of the vice-chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, said this was the third consecutive time Unilorin is winning the JAMB merit award.

Malomo said that the university had an additional prize on one of the five categories for the 2020 JAMB National Tertiary Admissions’ Performance-Merit Award (NATAP-M Award).

“Unilorin had previously won the same award in the 2018 and 2019 editions of NATAP-M Award, adding another category, the Institution with the highest number of admitted international students in the 2019 edition,” she said.

She explained that 12 other tertiary institutions, drawn from federal, states and privately owned tertiary institutions, won in various categories of the award.

Malomo added that each of the five categories of the awards is worth N100 million shared in N75 million for winner, N15 million for first runner up and N10 million for second runner up among the winning institutions.

According to her, the five categories of awards and the winning institutions include 2020 Institution of First Choice, in which the Unilorin emerged as the most sought-after tertiary institution in Nigeria, with 81,659 applicants in the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

“Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) ranked second with 75,446, and Bayero University, Kano (BUK), ranked third with 59,506.

“Other categories included the Most National Institution in 2020 Admission, won by the Kaduna Polytechnic, with admitted candidates from across 33 states of the federation; and the 2020 Most Improved Institution in Gender Balance, won by the Federal University, Lafia, among others.

“The others are Institution With Highest Number of International Students in 2020 Admission, won by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; and the Most Compliant Institution In Keeping to the Guidelines in 2020 Admissions, won by Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State,” it said.