About 817 prospective candidates are to re-register for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) over infractions.
The decision by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) followed the invalidation of the examination registrations done by the candidates and their Computer Based Test centres.
The JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede revealed that the registrations were cancelled over some infractions relating to the use of unknown biometric fingerprints in the exam registration.
He disclosed this on Tuesday following meetings with stakeholders on the ongoing registration process.
Oloyede revealed that staff of the affected Computer Based Test (CBT) centres used their own fingerprints to complete the registration process for candidates, which is clearly a breach of the guideline for the registration of candidates.
The Registrar, however, promised the affected candidates that they would be given another opportunity to re-register for the exam but with the centres bearing the cost as a penalty for the infraction
“For the students who allowed other people to add their fingers to their registration procedure. We found that some of them were only naive because you will hear them saying my finger was hot and the man added his own. And you allowed him to add his own?
“Some of them did it deliberately for impersonation but we can’t distinguish those who are genuine from those who are not genuine. We will cancel all of them. All the registrations and we will ask them to re-register.
“The centres involved, we have just met with them, and they all confessed, nobody is disputing it, even students that were telling lies, they know we have the technology that won’t allow any lie to be accommodated.
“On their own (CBT owners), they suggested the solution. We will cancel the registrations of those people concerned and we will send a message to them to go back to the very centres where they were registered and the CBT centres will pay to the board the cost of registration of the candidates.”
“By adding his or her finger to your registration, it means he or she can change all your particulars when you are not there. You know your finger is what is used to identify you. The person can change your examination centre like say from Lagos to Ibadan, and on the exam day, you won’t be able to write the exam.
“That is why we put in place a device that will throw up any strange finger that is not yours and that is why we were able to identify them.
Speaking on the recent suspension of five CBT Centres for selling UTME registration pins above the stipulated price, the JAMB boss said four of the five have been let off the hook.
He, however, said the excess payment would be refunded by the affected CBT centres to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for necessary action.
“Those who sold our pins to candidates beyond the approved limit, we have decided to lift the ban on four of the five after they have explained, and they have given us an apology and they have explained what happened.
“One didn’t come so we are not lifting the suspension. The four of them, one of them that came, we are still doing an investigation (on the centre).
“As for those who overcharged, all the candidates who overpaid we are compiling the list. The overpayment will be paid by those vendors and those institutions to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
” They will pay the money to them and the law will determine what to do because I don’t believe the money should go back to the candidates because if you can pay N3,000, N5,000, N6,000 above the cost, you do not deserve any sympathy. I believe the money should not go back to them because we told them not to pay but now that they have paid we will recover the money and pay it to the appropriate government agency because if we retain it, they will say JAMB is looking for money, we are not looking for dirty money, we will therefore return the money to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, so as decides by the law, they can even take it to a charity home and give it to those in need.”