Web Editor | ConsumerConnect

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has withdrawn operating licences from 11 exam registration centres for charging candidates exorbitant amounts illegally, in the ongoing registration for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar of JAMB, made this known in Abuja, FCT, Tuesday, January 21, at an interactive session with stakeholders.

Agency reports that the stakeholders comprise the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), banks, e-transact, Digital Partner Network, Interswitch, and other service providers.

Prof. Oloyede said that the proliferation of tutorial centres was a major concern as most of the centres engaged in fraud and corruption during registrations and examinations.

Oloyede said that charging above the stipulated N4,700 for the 2020 UTME registration was illegitimate and would only destroy the nation.

It was an act of fraud and corruption, he said.

The exorbitant amount, he stated, could have negative effects on the nation as well as having implications in destroying the system.

“Many people make illegitimate money from the examination; and we will be destroying the nation if we don’t get things right.

“Prior to 2018, we sold form for N5,000; but the Federal Government considered so many things and felt the money was much.

And in 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari decided that the cost should be slashed, which brought the cost to N3,500.

“Also, prior to this time, there were unscrupulous people selling as high as N10,000. We now democratised the sale of the forms to make it available so that it will not be possible for those selling to hoard the forms,” he said.

According to him, the Board felt the banks are overcrowded; so we decided to expand the sale outlets to bring in mobile money operators to cover all the registered banks.

“The effects of the expansion are that some people are still penetrating the banks, thereby increasing the cost of the sale of form,” he disclosed.

The Registrar said that JAMB was magnanimous enough to pay the sum of N210 as commission for each of the forms sold to about 2 million candidates nationwide, saying extorting the candidates was unjust.

He added that the board was working closely with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to ensure that any agent who sold above the prescribed fee was brought to book.

He, therefore, called on NSCDC to assist in arresting any erring centre, while also calling on candidates to report any centre involved in the act to commandants in their various states.

He also said that the board, in a bid to eradicate the problems and as well as to ensure tracking, had directed its agents selling forms to ensure they have the National Identification Number (NIN).

The registrar listed some of the centres whose licences were withdrawn as Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State; Adazi-Nnukwu ICT/CBT for selling forms at N5,000, Emkenlyn Computers, Nneameka Secondary School, Anambra State.

Others are New Kings and Queens, Bayelsa State, for selling at N5,500; Brightfield Secondary School, Delta State, for selling between N6,000 and N8,000; A-Pagen Consolidated, Port Harcourt, for selling at N5,000 and Influencial School, Port Harcourt, for selling at N6,000.

The cost of the registration is N3,500, while the cost of materials is N500 and N700 for the CBT centres, totalling N4,700.