Plans have also been concluded to scrap the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board for applicants into the nation's tertiary institutions.
JAMB will however not be scrapped.
The government's decision which would be made public soon via a White Paper, are based on the Stephen Oronsanye-led Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.
It was gathered that the decisions were part of the recommendations made by a White Paper Committee set up by the government on the Oronsanye report.
Upon receiving the report, President Goodluck Jonathan has been meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo a few top government officials to take final decisions on it.
It was in one of such meetings held on Tuesday that the final decision was taken.
Under the new arrangement, in place of UTME, authorities of all tertiary institutions would now be at liberty to conduct their entrance examinations as they had been doing for Post-UTME.
JAMB will however serve as a clearing house.
"JAMB will now be a clearing house like Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in the UK. If somebody gains admission into three universities and holds down his space, immediately such person picks his first choice, JAMB's system will automatically free the remaining two slots for other applicants.
"JAMB will no longer conduct examinations but it will be setting the standard alongside the school authorities," a source hinted.
On NECO, the source said in arriving at the decision to scrap the examination body, the committee took into cognizance its huge facilities across the country.
But it was resolved that the West African Examination Council would absorb NECO's members of staff and its facilities.
WAEC will also be empowered to conduct two Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations per year, one in January and the other probably in December.
Hitherto, only one November/December SSCE examination is being conducted.
The May/June Senior Secondary Certificate Examination being organised by the examination body once in a year still stands.
The government source also added that plans had been concluded to scrap the Public Complaint Commission, the National Poverty Eradication Programme and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution among others.
*This should go down as a welcome development considering how long one has to write to pass UTME when there are no assurances that one would gain admission in a single year*
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