The Board said it is not oblivious of their plight regarding the high cost of diesel in the country.

The Registrar, JAMB, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, made the appeal in a statement on Tuesday issued by the board’s Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin, four days to the closing date for the sale of the 2022/23 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination application form.

The Registrar spoke while on the last lap of the monitoring tour of the 2022 UTME/DE registration exercise scheduled to end on March 26.

He disclosed that JAMB was in consultation with relevant government agencies to provide remedies as part of its strategies for a holistic solution.

Oloyede reiterated the Board’s desire to offer critical support to its service partners at every point of its operational processes.

The Registrar admitted the heavy reliance on diesel-powered generators to administer the examination in many centres.

“JAMB would always go the extra mile to render support to its critical partners such that no service provider would have any excuse for failure”, he said.

Oloyede further assured of necessary palliatives to CBT centres within approved government limits.

The official reiterated that the 26th March, 2022 closing date for the sale of the 2022/23 UTME application documents to prospective candidates would not be extended.

The Board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who revealed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday, noted that in the past two weeks since the registration begins about 700,000 candidates have so far been registered.

Speaking on the registration process, Benjamin said the exercise has been hitch-free, with the impressive turnout from the first day at the various accredited Computer Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide.

“I will like to say we have actually found this exercise very interesting as we have already registered a total of 700, 000 prospective candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in just 14 days.

“We have 21 days left to go for this registration exercise and we wish to call on all candidates, the UTME and Direct Entry, to seize the opportunity and register, as there will be no extension,” he said.

Benjamin noted that the Board had blacklisted 41 centres out of the 692 centres used, over issues such as registration cyber fraud, extortion and technical deficiency.

Meanwhile, JAMB which has earlier sanctioned the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), warned schools to stop using its name to defraud Nigerians.

Benjamin said: “It has come to the knowledge of the Board that some elite schools are using the name of the Board to extort huge sums of money from parents under the guise that the Board has ordered such payments.

“The Board wishes to make it clear that unlike the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO) and others, the UTME and Direct Entry (DE) registration and examination exercises are not school-based.

“As such, schools have no role whatsoever in the Board’s operational processes.

“This is because these exercises require only the participation and engagement of individual candidates.

“Consequently, schools that are using the name of the Board to swindle parents of large sum of money for the purpose of registration or other services, are hereby warned to desist forthwith,” he said.

According to him, these affected schools may wish to employ other means to extort gullible parents but certainly such practice should not be at the expense of the Board or its processes.

Benjamin added that the information became necessary following discovery of series of data mutilation, owing to this unwholesome group processing of registration, among others.

“Parents are to note that the cost of the UTME forms remains N3,500 for the ePINs and N500 for the reading text and nothing more.

“Parents are to ensure that their children do this individually and not as a group. In addition, the CBT centres where the candidates register have been directed not to charge anything above N700 as their service charge,’’ Benjamin said.

On the Board’s advice on vending, Benjamin said it was important for vendors and candidates to know that certain measures had been taken by the Board to define the process of vending ePINs.

He said this was to serve as a guide against candidates exposing their personal data to fraudsters.

Benjamin urged candidates to note that any personal data divulged to any third-party, be it a vendor or agent could expose them to the risk of losing their UTME registration, thereby jeopardising their future aspirations.

“In view of the above, the Board wishes to reiterate that pin vending should be done directly to individual candidates and should be done online through the pin vending platform and not offline.

“There should be no bulk purchase of pins by candidates or secondary schools as is being done by some elite schools. All online vending should be done directly to each candidate on the presentation of his or her profile code.

“After vending the pin, the relevant pin should be sent to each candidate through his or her phone, hence there is no need to write the pin by hand, by any vendor or agent.

“Any vendor/agent who collects a prepared list with candidates’ names, profile codes and other vital details for the purpose of vending pins will be sanctioned.

“Similarly, any vendor collecting such prepared lists is hereby advised to desist with immediate effect as this action has severe consequences on the candidates whose data are being exposed indiscriminately,” he warned.

The spokesman of the corps, Mr Adamu Shehu, made the disclosure in a statement, noting that the Commandant, Mr Garba Muhammad, gave the charge when he paid a courtesy visit to the State JAMB Coordinator, Mr Bello Aminu, on Thursday in Dutse.

He quoted the commandant as alleging that intelligence reports indicated that some CBT operators were charging candidates above the official fees.

Muhammad added that the Commandant General of the Corps, Mr Abdullahi Gana, had ordered the corps to check the menace, warning that defaulters would be prosecuted.

“I call on CBT centre operators to charge only the official fee or risk revocation of licenses and prosecution,” Muhammad was quoted as saying in the statement.

The commandant reiterated the commitment of the corps to secure the Board’s offices; examination materials, ensure the safety of personnel and candidates as well as curb examination malpractices.

Also speaking, Aminu, disclosed that the Board had approved N4, 700; as examination registration fee per candidate, adding that any acts to the contrary violated the laws governing its operations.

According to the statement, the visit was a sequel to a meeting between the two agencies in Abuja, where the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, lauded the NSCDC over transparency in the discharge of its mandate.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede made the disclosure at the opening of a two-day meeting with Computer Based Test (CBT) centres, Technical Advisors, Service Providers such as MTN, Airtel, Galaxy Backbone and other stakeholders, held at Kongo Conference Hotel, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, NAN reports.

Oloyede said: “You may recollect that since 2016, we do give at least N100m to state offices for one thing or the other. We want to tell you that this year; no kobo will be released for anybody for anything because those who are running private CBC centres are making profit.

“And if they can make profit, paying their salaries and doing other things. We are paying salaries of all staff and in addition, we still take care of offices through quarterly allocation.

“We started last year to see how much you bring in, henceforth; I will not go into government coffers to give you money. We can close down any centre that is not useful to us,” he said.

The registrar said they brought in NIN as a condition for registering our candidates for this year, adding that they were also collaborating with NIMC.

“With current campaign against NIMC, I’m not saying they are not corrupt but for me, I could see deliberate efforts at running down NIMC, so that we can think of not collaborating with them.

“Those who are benefiting from registration and examination scandals, which have become big industries, are mounting campaign against NIMC.

“I am not saying you should not be vigilant, but, do not let us swallow everything people are saying about them. Based on my interaction with the head of NIMC, they are upright and just last week, five members of their staff were sacked for collecting bribes.

What else would they do. Will they manufacture those who will work with them. So, as you interact with NIMC, don’t have it in mind that you are interacting with corrupt people, no, they are not,” he said.

He, however, said that it did not mean one should not be vigilant, saying he would be happy if the corrupt ones among the staff were exposed.

“You know, there are infractions during registration and examinations and we have punished infractions we detected. We will not tolerate it no matter how little.

“Unless I’m wrong, more than 40 per cent of our candidates have obtained their NIN while the remaining ones are running helter-skelter to have theirs,” he said.

The registrar sought the assistance of Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPRCN) to pay particular attention to CCTV.

Oloyede said they were aware that some CBT centres were tampering with CCTV cameras in collaboration with the JAMB technical officers, adding that they would not have been able to do so if the technical officers had not collaborated with them, as it was in the server room.

“You should also note that no third party is allowed to make any change on the profile of any candidate. We are having a situation where somebody will want to go out with a particular lady but when such a lady declines, they will mischievously change her examination venue.

“They do that using her password which they must have collected from her to change her examination hall from Lagos to Maiduguri.

“In the day of examination, she will go but her name will not be there. There are also mothers who change courses of their children.

“We have a case of a lady who wanted to study English but her mother insisted she must study Law. Unknown to her, the mother went and used her password to change her first choice to law,” he said.

He said when the said lady got admission to study law, she protested that she didn’t apply for law, adding that the board traced it and discovered that it was her mother who collected her password from her and changed the course.

According to him, there are other instances like that, saying that the board had no business with the father or mother of any candidate.

“If your son or daughter cannot manage his or her affairs, then, he or she is not qualified to be admitted into any higher institution,” he noted.

In his speech, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, lauded the efforts of JAMB management under Oloyede and urged him to sustain the tempo for the good of the nation’s education system.

Garba, who was represented by the Dep. Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Zubairu Abubakar, said that the board was being revolutionised to meet the 21st century challenges.

Source: NAN

The Lagos State JAMB Coordinator, Mr Babatunde Bamisoye, disclosed this on Tuesday, during the matriculation of new students at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Yaba.

“As far as UTME is concerned, we do not allow parents to come into the premises of the centres. My advice to parents is that they should keep off because their coming has no value, rather it may hinder the success of the exam. Parent need only to get the students prepared with transport money.  Allow them to go to their centres and return home,” Bamisoye said.

Bamisoye additionally said the board had visited the 78 accredited CBT centres and confirmed them technically appropriate to direct the examination beginning on April 11.

Underlining the requirement for candidates to avoid the JAMB restricted items, the Bamisoye cautioned, “Candidates should not bring in any of the banned equipment, like glasses or scientific wrist watches, as necessary sanctions will be given. The Registrar, Prof. Is’haq Oloyede, has said that whosoever is caught will be sanctioned. Those with special cases like recommended eyeglasses are understandable, besides that, no one should come in with such things as listed.”