JAMB Announces Cancelation Of UTME Registrations Of 817 Candidates

The registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyode, announced on Wednesday morning (today) that the exam body has cancelled the registrations of no fewer than 817 candidates that applied to sit in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) examinations.

According to Oloyede, JAMB discovered cases of infractions at some Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres, hence, the decision to void the details of the affected candidates.

He explained that some officers adopted a strange biometric method at the CBT centres during the registration process, which was against the conduct of the exam body.

Naija News understands that there are 178 CBT centres where the infraction was recorded. The centre registration officers reportedly added their fingerprints to complete the registration process for the candidates.

Oloyede, however, revealed that the 817 affected students would be given another opportunity to re-register for the exam, with the centres bearing the cost.

The former Vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin said: “For the students who allowed other people to add their fingers to their registration procedure, we found that some of them were only naive because you will hear them saying my finger was hot, and the man added his own. And you allowed him to add his own?

“Some of them did it deliberately for impersonation, but we can’t identify those who are genuine from those who are not genuine. We will cancel all of them and all the registrations and ask them to re-register.

“The centres involved, we have just met with them, and they all confessed; nobody is disputing it, even students that were telling lies; they know we have the technology that won’t allow any lie to be accommodated.

“On their own (the CBT centres owners), they suggested the solution. We will cancel the registrations of those concerned people, send them a message to go back to the centres where they were registered, and the CBT centres will pay the board the cost of registration of the candidates.”

Oloyede stressed that it was against the JAMB rule for any registration officer or any other person to add their finger while capturing a candidate’s biometric data. According to him, doing this could bring about impersonation in the exam and give such “strange” persons access to change vital details, including the exam centre.

He said: “By adding his or her finger to your registration, it means he or she can change all your particulars when you are not there. You know your finger is what is used to identify you. The person can change your examination centre, like, say, from Lagos to Ibadan, and on the exam day, you won’t be able to write the exam.

“That is why we put in place a device that will throw up any strange finger that is not yours, and that is why we were able to identify them.”

Speaking on the recent suspension of five CBT centres for selling UTME registration pins above the stipulated price, the JAMB boss said four of the five had been let off the hook.

He, however, said the affected CBT centres would refund the excess payment to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for necessary action.

The JAMB boss’s statement reads further: “Those who sold our pins to candidates beyond the approved limit, we have decided to lift the ban on four of the five after they have explained, and they have given us an apology and they have explained what happened.

“One did not come so we are not lifting the suspension. The four of them, one of them that came, we are still doing investigation (on the centre).

“As for those who overcharged, all the candidates who overpaid we are compiling the list. The overpayment will be paid by those vendors and those institutions to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

“They will pay the money to them and the law will determine what to do because I don’t believe the money should go back to the candidates because if you can pay ₦3,000, ₦5,000, ₦6,000 above the cost, you do not deserve any sympathy. I believe the money should not go back to them because we told them not to pay but now that they have paid we will recover the money and pay it to the appropriate government agency because if we retain it, they will say JAMB is looking for money. We are not looking for dirty money, we will therefore return the money to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, so as decided by the law,
they can even take it to a charity home and give it to those in need.”

Earlier during a virtual meeting with the candidates who had others donating their fingers (fingerprints) to them during their registration process, many of the students admitted to the act while others claimed ignorance.