By Mudathir Hayatullahi Folorunsho
ON Monday, 5th of September, 2022, a report published by an online blog named “School Beginner”, claimed that Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, (UDUS), has announced the commencement of sales of Post UTME screening form for the 2022/2023 academic session for undergraduate programmes.
The report, archived here and retrieved from a WhatsApp group, was circulated by a student of UDUS identified as Abdullahi Akorede, popularly nicknamed ‘Solution’ by his peers.
The report also claimed that the sales of 2022 UDUS Post UTME screening form will begin officially on 6th September 2022 and ends on 6th October 2022 on UDUS website.
CLAIMS
The claims read:
- “The management of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUSOK) has announced 6th September 2022 as the latest commencement date for the sales of the 2022/2023 Post UTME Screening Application form.”
- “The management of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUSOK) has announced Two Thousand Naira (N2,000) as the latest cost Price for the 2022 Post UTME form.”
- “The management of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUSOK) has announced 6th October 2022 as the latest closing date for the 2022/2023 UDUSOK Post UTME online registration/screening.”
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub revealed that the post is FALSE.
Checks at the school’s admission office show that Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto is yet to announce a date for the commencement of sales of the Post UTME form for the 2022/2023 academic session.
READ: FACT CHECK: Are education parastatals over-populated by Muslims as alleged by CAN President?
Mallam Shehu Abubakar, the university’s admission officer, has debunked the post published on the School Beginner blog.
Abubakar told The FactCheckHub that UDUS is still running the 2020/2021 academic session, adding that the next session shall be 2021/2022.
He said the school had, in February 2022, notified “all candidates that applied for admission into the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto for the 2021/2022 session, to upload their O’level (WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, etc) on the JAMB portal through their CAPS e-facility.”
He noted that the university’s 2022 academic calendar is yet to be decided by the school authority.
“Also, UDUS has stopped conducting Post UTME exercise for its candidates, and if it will be conducted in the next academic session which is 2021/2022, the school will decide on that and ask us to inform the UTME applicants. But for now, no information regarding that has been passed by the management. So, the information on that platform is fake. It’s not from UDUS,” he said.
Further checks revealed that the last time UDUS conducted Post UTME examination for her UTME applicants was in the 2015/2016 academic session, while its admission is currently being conducted through the JAMB Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), a platform introduced by JAMB to ensure transparency for students’ admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Also, findings revealed that UDUS did not announce 2,000 naira as the cost for the 2022 Post UTME form; thus FALSE. In fact, the students admitted into the current 2020/2021 academic session paid an acceptance fee of 7,000 naira, screening fee of 2,000 naira, T-ship fee of 2,000 naira, and ID card fee of 2,000 naira – all amounting to 13,000 naira which the applicants paid when the school offered them admission, checks show.
When contacted, Akorede who shared the false post claimed that he got the information online and shared it in multiple WhatsApp groups without verifying.
Similarly, when the blog was subjected to verification on Whois domain tool, one Ofa Joseph was found to be the website owner.
When The FactCheckHub reached out via email to Joseph for comments, he was yet to respond to the press inquiry three days after.
ALSO READ: EXPLAINER: What you need to know about QR code phishing
THE VERDICT
The claims that UDUS has announced opening and closing dates for the sales of Post UTME form for the 2022/2023 academic session are FALSE. Similarly, the claim that the university is selling Post UTME form for N2,000 is also FALSE.