2020 UTME: JAMB registers 700,000 candidates in 2 weeks
The Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says 700,000 candidates have so far
been registered for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)
nationwide 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. He warned parents
not to also give in to any form of extortion. “It has come to the knowledge of
the Board that some elite schools are using the name of the Board to extort
huge sum 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 the 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 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
aspiration. “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.
(NAN)
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