FOUR STATES LEAD IN MEDICAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA – JAMB

Four states have consistently dominated admission trends in Nigerian universities in the last five years when it comes to the field of medicine.

In follow-up reports, this newspaper will evaluate the trend in Engineering and Law.

For Medicine, while Imo had 1,940 students admitted into various universities in 2011, Anambra followed with 1,536 and Enugu was third with 1,280. Delta came fourth with 1,137 and Abia was fifth with 931 students.

With more universities opening across the country in the last decade, the number of students gaining admissions into specialised and competitive degree courses has steadily grown.

But when it comes to Medicine, four states have dominated admission trends for at least five years, consistently trouncing the other 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The states are Imo, Anambra, Delta and Enugu.

Between 2011 and 2015, these states had more students gaining admission to study Medicine than any other state, data from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) show.

In the five years, the four states — except Anambra — remained in the top five, an analysis of the data by PREMIUM TIMES has shown. Anambra took second position for four years, before dropping to sixth position in 2015.

Only two other states managed to break into the top five briefly. Osun took fifth position twice and fourth position once; while Edo took third position once, and fifth position once.

The data, covering 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, are for students admitted through test-based examinations conducted by JAMB.

JAMB’s admission process is guided by merit, university catchment area and grants advantage to educationally-less developed states.

The JAMB data were verified and validated by the National Bureau of Statistics, the bureau said.
Together, they provide an important glimpse into how the nation’s 36 states and Abuja compete when benchmarked by university admissions into various academic disciplines each year..

PREMIUM TIMES analysis is focused on three of the most competitive courses: Medicine, Engineering and Law.