The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has
warned candidates, schools and parents against engaging in illegal transactions
on Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB issues the warning while disclosing that 700,000
candidates have so far been registered for the 2020 UTME in two weeks.
The Board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin,
made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos
on Sunday night.
According to him, the exercise has been hitch-free, with
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.
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.
JAMB which has 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.
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