The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it is ‘not ashamed to admit that there are issues’ as it vows to ensure the credibility of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
The examination body is being expected to announce the release of results for the 2019 UTME even as candidates increasingly get apprehensive.
“We are gatekeepers but the entire security system of the house could be compromised if we refuse to keep the gate,” spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, told journalists on Saturday.
“We would strictly follow the process so that we can get it right. We are less concerned about the time, but (more about) how well and credible (the results become); neither policy meeting nor admission will start this month.”
He further said that “We are not ashamed to admit that there are issues. But our pride is in getting it right. Once we get it right, it will serve as a message that it’s no longer business as usual.
“Illegality had thrived in the society of over the years because people failed to follow issues to (their) logical conclusion.
“But we have decided to do otherwise, and we need the support of Nigerians to achieve that.”
Nationalnetwork understands that more than 1.2 million candidates sat for the 2019 UTME from April 11 to April 18.
Similarly, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, in an interview with journalists in Abuja at the weekend said part of the delay was biometric verification of the over 1.2 million candidates that sat for the 2019 UTME examination.
He told reporters in an interview, yesterday in Abuja that the board was also cross-checking everything pertaining to the conduct of the examination, including fingerprints of candidates.
Prof. Oloyede said the board has already carried out biometric verification of candidates in 31 states and was presently verifying those of candidates from six other states.
Prof. Oloyede, who did not list the states the board has so far verified the fingerprints of candidates, said: “We are cross-checking everything, including fingers. If you know that you have about 1.8 candidates multiplied by ten that is the finger we are talking about.
“If you are very close to National Identity Card Management Commission (NIMC), ask them what it takes to analyse finger prints in terms of period.
“We are combining 1.8 million ten fingers with one another to be sure that we identify people who combine fingers and so on. That is where we are now.
“We have done all other and now we have about six states to go. As I speak with you I am at a retreat with those who are doing it. We have about six states to go. We have done 31 states and six states are still not completed now.”
Asked when the board would release the result of the UTME, the registrar said: “I don’t know but it will be very soon. As soon as we complete what we are doing.”
The registrar denied reports that the board may cancel half of the results of states found to have been involved in malpractice during the examination.
When asked which state was affected most by malpractice this year, he said: “I don’t know. I cannot say which state because I don’t know. It is not just issue of malpractice.”
Oloyede said there was nothing wrong with the board’s server, adding that the board was cleaning up the rot in the education system.
He said: “There is no problem at all but everything must be done thoroughly and that is what we are doing. There is no problem. All the rumour about problem is a lie and I would not tell a whole nation what is not true. I can’t put my integrity on line. There is no problem at all.
“We are doing what we set to do and it is a scientific thing and there is no way I can expedite it beyond this. I t is taking human and material resources but we must do it. Somebody must standup against this rot. That’s all.”
Oloyede also said the board would probe alleged involvement of some of its staff who connived with some computer based test centre operators to perpetrate malpractice during the examination.
The registrar said: “Where staff members are identified to have been involved, if there are reported cases, we will investigate. There are one or two cases that are very obvious and we are taking action because as we appoint our staff and other ad-hoc, we appointed some eminent Nigerians to monitor the monitors and we have analysed their reports.
“Where an ad hoc or permanent staff is alleged to have done what he or she is not supposed to do we will take the normal process and procedure”
