Ebun Olowu
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has stated that the board introduced the use of National Identity Number (NIN) for the registration of the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to checkmate examination malpractices.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, revealed this in Abuja during a virtual meeting with owners of Computer Based Test Centres, service providers and other stakeholders to kick start the 2021 UTME registration.
Oloyede stressed that the directive for the use of NIN as a prerequisite for registration was from the Minister of Education to also address insecurity.
“Its for security reasons; for us at our small level it helps us to avoid impersonation but there is a bigger picture of insecurity in the country and we know that many of this problems we have is because we have identification problem, we cannot identify every citizen, where he is and what he is doing.
“Government is trying to ensure that we have some strategy for improving the security system and of course if those who are coming in to the tertiary institution are exposed to this basic civil responsibility, it will be good to develop a culture of accountability because accountability starts from being identified.”
Professor Oloyede who noted that candidates must make use of accessible sim cards which has never been used for UTME registration, said talks were ongoing with the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy to grant a conditional waiver to an estimated 20 percent of candidates without a sim card.
“We have told the National Communication Commission (NCC), approached the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy and we are hopeful that we will be granted waiver with, of course, conditionalities which we must ensure the candidates meet.
Professor Oloyede also warned that no CBT is allowed to register candidates for NIN, noting that any centre found to engage in such act would be sanctioned.
He cautioned owners of CBT centres against examination malpractice
He said over 100 centres were delisted between 2020 and 2021 for various infractions including registration and examination malpractice.
