The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has insisted that it would be utilising the National Identity Number (NIN) in the conduct of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in 2020.
JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede noted that since the decision to use NIN in the conduct of the UTME was earlier announced, those benefitting from registration and examination frauds have been mounting negative campaign against the use of the technology managed by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Oloyede, a professor, was speaking on Wednesday in a meeting with computer based test centres, technical advisors and service providers at the Kongo Conference Hotel, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.
He reiterated that no amount of such campaigns can dissuade JAMB from implementing the policy, adding that it is part of efforts to checkmate all forms of malpractices bedevilling the board.
He said candidates, who indulge in sharp practices pay between N200,000 to N300,000 to some people to write the exam for them, adding that several examination centres have been reduced to avoid malpractices.
He also accused some universities of denying highly rated candidates which are offered admission by JAMB and replacing them with candidates with low scores.
He warned that any admission that is not offered on a candidate’s JAMB portal is fake, stressing that all admissions must be on the profile of candidates.
EduCeleb.com understands that the NIMC is the only government agency mandated by law to collect and store identities of citizens and residents of Nigeria.
Unlike in previous years when JAMB had been adopting biometric registration, this would be the first instance it would be insisting on depending on the NIMC issued NIN, which it believes would cut incidences of multiple registration and identities in its examinations.
Oloyede disclosed that more than 40 per cent of candidates have obtained their NIN, while others are making efforts to do so too.
In his words, “We have brought in NIN as a condition for registering our candidates for this year, and we are collaborating with NIMC.
“With the current campaign against NIMC, I’m not saying they are not corrupt, but for me, I could see a deliberate effort at running down NIMC so that we can think of not collaborating with them.
“Those who are benefitting from registration and examination scandals, which is a big industry, 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.”
He said further that based on his interaction with the head of NIMC, “they are upright and just last week, five staff were sacked because they collected bribe.”
“So, as you interact with NIMC, don’t have it in mind that you are interacting with corrupt people, no, they are not.
“That does not mean you should not be vigilant. I will be happy if you can expose the corrupt ones among them.
“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.
He also urged the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPRCN) to pay particular attention to CCTV cameras to avoid unscrupulous elements tampering with them.
