Underage candidates: JAMB to limit physical interactions with applicants
In an effort to curb extortion and improve service quality, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has announced that it has finalised plans to completely automate its operations in order to minimise in-person interactions with applicants.
Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the JAMB Registrar, stated that this has become crucial "because many of the candidates who take the UTME are underage."
This was mentioned in a board bulletin that our reporter saw on the organization's website on Monday.
Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the JAMB Registrar, was reported in the bulletin as saying that reducing physical contact will deal with exploitation and extortion concerns.
According to Prof. Oloyede, the board is thinking about restricting physical contact with candidates who have disabilities in order to prevent any potential problems with extortion and other forms of exploitation, since many of the candidates who take the UTME are minors. In due course, he said, exchanges would only be possible online, and calls would be logged for efficient quality assurance and monitoring.
A team had been sent in to look into the claims, and it was stated that "the board had received a series of reports bordering on some unwholesome practices, promising to make the findings known to all."He pleaded with students who had accused CBT facilities, some JAMB officials, and other agents of extortion under the guise of "regularisation" or other services to provide credible evidence, adding that any staff found culpable would face the full wrath of the law.”
Prof. Oloyede, in the meantime, praised the board's employees for their honesty and diligence, stating, "I can vouch for over 99 percent of JAMB staff in terms of honesty, but any bad eggs will be identified and dealt with appropriately."
A businesswoman named Mrs. Ifeanyi Eke filed a N100 million lawsuit in March at the Federal High Court in Lagos against JAMB and three other parties for allegedly sending her and her fifteen-year-old daughter indecent and unsolicited text messages. Regina Bassey, one Mr. Jibola, and Island Computer College Limited have joined the lawsuit as co-respondents.
On January 29, JAMB declared that many registration officers of a computer-based test centre had been arrested in relation to a social media outburst by a mother who claimed that a staff member of the purported centre had approached her 15-year-old daughter through a chat on the X platform.
In her original summons, the mother asked the court to declare that Mr. Ajibola's unsolicited and inappropriate text messages to her daughter interfered with her right to a private and family life, as protected by Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution. The mother filed the summons through her attorney, Olumide Babalola.
