Ebun Olowu
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has delisted over 22 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres for allegedly defrauding 11,823 candidates of N59 million.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, stated this during a virtual meeting with representatives of the affected centres.
According to him, the centres carried out the fraud by charging candidates more than the stipulated amount for effecting correction on profile as well as bypassing One-Time Password (OTP) required of candidates to initiate such changes.
Prof. Oloyede said 22 centres from nine states were indicted for the infractions.
He said, “The purpose of calling this meeting is to interact with 22 of you (institutions) that have grossly violated the prescription of the Board, particularly during Covid-19, and those who have done things not expected to do, thereby endangering the lives of candidates that they were supposed to protect.
“We have invited you to this meeting to hear you out and also let the public know how some of you are engaging in criminal activities in the process of registering candidates. There are some of you that can even be classified as certified fraudsters”.
Prof. Oloyede, who said the affected CBT centres owners would be prosecuted, advised affected candidates to change their passwords to avoid further damage following exposure of the secret code to operators of the now blacklisted centres.
A representative of Duntro CBT centre, David Ugochukwu, blamed the illegal act on his technical staff, saying that they have been sacked from the organisation.
Ugochukwu said he had earlier written to JAMB to intimate it of the identified breaches in the registration application that may allow the bypass of OTP in the correction of candidates data.
Other CBT representatives who spoke at the meeting apologised and admitted to the illegal activities and also blamed the problem on technical staff.
The affected CBT centres are Bright Stars, Aba, Abia State, 68 candidates; Flourish Computer Centre, Akwa Ibom State-105; Ibom-E-Library, Akwa Ibom-12; Chukwuemeka Odumegwu University, Igbariam -661. Anambra State: Deacons Digital Solutions Ltd. -96; Federal Poly, Oko-314, Mega Dataview, Onitsha-733.
Others include Bayelsa State: Linnet Paul Innovative Institute, Yenagoa- 3435; Niger Delta University-1200; Edo State: Diict, Benin-81; Gateway Edutech, Benin-10; Gifted Hands Science and Technology, Benin-223; NABTEB ICT Training Centre, Benin-291; Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa-670 and Supreme ICT Foundation, Benin-22.
Others are Enugu State: Elco ICT, Nsukka-538; Peaceland and Stalwart Solutions, Enugu-554; Union ICT-773; Kaduna State: Time online ICT, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna-67: Lagos State: Duntro High School, Surulere-21; Elite BusinessConsult, Ikorodu 218 and Rivers State: Ave Maria international academy, Rumuodara, Port Harcourt-1731.
