The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has new policies as prerequisites for registering for its examination. VICTORIA AMADI reports the challenges that applicants faced during the just-concluded registration.
In recent years, candidates applying for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) are faced with a lot of challenges before registration.
The board initially made its portal open for registration, from January 14 to February 14. Candidates were expected to have a valid email address; preferably a Gmail account, create new JAMB profile, purchase JAMB e-PIN for N3,500, and provide their National Identification Number (NIN).
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, in April 2021, announced the creation of a USSD code to simplify the registration for UTME, and to help candidates, who were yet to send their NIN number get their codes by dialling *55019*1*NIN.
However, this year, the board brought E-naira mode of payment, NIN short code and compulsory email address as some of its core processes for registration, which also, just like the previous years, posed some challenges to applicants.
Oloyede after visiting some Computer- Based Test (CBT) centres, on February 11, announced that over 1.1 million applicants registered for this year’s UTME.
The JAMB chief warned against extortion while ensuring adequate steps to forge ahead with a smooth exercise.
“We will take adequate steps to make sure that we stop that (extortion). One of the reasons is that we will tell every CBT centre to stop doing bulk purchase of pin and bulk registration. So, if a centre sells more than one pin from a source, then we will sanction such a centre.”
1,527,068 candidates for UTME
The board’s Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, in statement, noted that the body had extended its registration to February 22, while the sale of e-PINs ended two days earlier.
At the close of the sale of e-PINs on February 14, the board recorded that 1,527,068 candidates successfully registered, inclusive of the 168,748, who indicated interest to take the Mock-UTME.
The statement read: “It should also be noted that the board, based on its projections, had expanded its capacity to register up to 100,000 candidates per day. With this, it was possible to register all desiring candidates within the space of a few days.
“However, less than 50,000 candidates were turning up for registration, which is less than the installed registration capacity. Surprisingly, in the last two days before the closing date, the pace picked up remarkably with over 100,000 candidates registering on a daily basis.
“Furthermore, the board, as a responsive and proactive agency, took cognisance of reports from across the country indicating some difficulties being faced by many Nigerians in using their electronic channels to purchase the e-PINs or obtain cash readily within the stipulated period.
“It has, as a consequence, granted this extension to ensure that all candidates who desire to register for the 2023 UTME are given the opportunity to do so, especially when the challenges are not of their own making.”
Our experiences, by applicants
Just before JAMB brought its registration to an end, The Nation visited some CBT centres in Lagos. They included Lagooz School, Orile Agege, New Ocean Comprehensive High School Alaja Road, Ayobo, JKK CBT Centre at Anthony, Lagos, and Mayrays School, Housing Estate, Onitsha. A worrisome queue at some of these centres was observed with many applicants locked outside the premises. Some were left with no option than to climb the fence. Some applicants said they had their PINs, but could not thumbprint nor register completely; while some lamented they could not register entirely, owing to the inability to acquire the NIN short code, and comply fully with the e-PIN registration payment policy as a result of network issues and the drama surrounding the new naira crisis. They also complained of limited number of computers to register large number of candidates and extortion.
An applicant at Lagooz Schools CBT Centre, Orile-Agege, Lagos, Ibrahim Adeniyi, complained of his inability to register for the UTME, owing to a delay in getting the NIN code.
“I was asked to provide my NIN code. I went to NIN office and I was told my code would be ready on February 14, which was also the JAMB registration deadline. With the way things went, I wasn’t able to register. By the time my NIN was made available, registration had ended,” he said.
A student at JKK CBT Centre, Anthony, Lagos, Divine Udoka, who missed the examination last year because his name was wrongly spelt, said: “There was a mistake in my JAMB registration last year concerning the spelling of my name. It was conflicting with the name on my NIN. I was sent to NIMC office to fix it. But I was not given the opportunity to register again this year because the crowd was too much.”
A student, who missed registration for two years, Deborah Bolanle, said: “I registered my NIN with one man’s number and the man is already dead. My PIN was on the man’s number that I registered with last two years; coupled with the fact that my phone was stolen and I was not able to register in the last two years. I have been trying to retrieve my number, but it is taking lot of time. I have been going to Alausa, Ikeja, to retrieve the number to no avail. I went to NIN office and was told I couldn’t have two NINs.”
At a CBT Centre in Ayobo, Lagos, applicants were seen standing under the sun, as the shelter provided to accommodate them was not enough. Some students lamented the short period given for registration by JAMB, limited computers, and favouritism displayed by registration officials.
Yvonne Williams, an applicant, said: “The time given for this year’s registration was quite short. During the time I registered, the network sometimes malfunctioned. At times, the fingerprint machine was problematic. Worse still, the officials were partial.”
At Mayrays School, Housing Estate, Onitsha, Anambra State, an applicant, Praise Obinwanna, said they had to climb the fence to get inside the CBT centre premises because officials locked the gate.
He said: “In the whole of Onitsha, it was only one centre that conducted thumb-printing. I had to climb the fence to have access to the compound. It took me five days before I could register. I normally come early in the morning and leave late at night when it’s already dark.”
Asked if officials extorted students, he responded in the affirmative.
Registration officials respond
A supervising official at JKK, Anthony, Lagos, who craved anonymity, blamed the applicants for waiting till rush hours to register.
Her words: “These children like late hours. As of the second week of February, we didn’t record a huge number of students. The day JAMB registrar came here, there was no crowd.
“We have over 30 computers at this centre. We couldn’t do beyond our power as our operation is being controlled from the top. Some people were coming in late hours. There was a particular day that we couldn’t register up to 100 candidates.
“Usually, there is a limit to the number of computer systems one can connect to the router to JAMB. The systems were programmed to JAMB.”
A Registration Officer at Lagooz Schools, Agege Lagos, who simply identified himself as Mr. Obinna, highlighted cash, network issues, and the problem with profile code as some of the challenges at the centre.
“One of the challenges we recorded during this year’s registration was cash. Some of them were looking for where to get cash to purchase the form. Point of Sale (PoS) operators charged them much because of the new naira issue.
“Another challenge was profile code. Some students were to generate profile codes. Some sent their code, but received no response, while some received ‘no record found’ as the response. Some of them went back to re-check their data.
“Sometimes the fault emanated from the network provider. Most times, we have network issue and this interrupts registration. You might be registering a student and before you know it, the network disappears and you will have to re-log in. Concerning the crowd, it was because of the deadline that the crowd was much.”
JAMB steps in
Dr. Benjamin dispelled allegations made by some applicants, promising that the board would ensure that officials, who extorted students during registration were brought to book.
His words: “I don’t know about candidates being locked out of their centres. We went to Lagos, Kano and Abuja, and at these centres, we didn’t see any crowd.
“We have asked candidates not to pay. Once you see anyone collecting money, don’t hesitate to reveal his identity to us. We will go after him. We are against extortion. Students that gave money were as guilty as the collectors. We were at JKK some weeks ago before the deadline, and no candidate was there. Why should they wait till the late hours and be giving someone money to hasten their registration?”
Responding to the claim that it was only one centre that conducted thumb-printing in Onitsha, he said: “That cannot be possible. We have nine centres in Onitsha. There’s no how only one centre conducted thumb-printing in the whole of Onitsha. A complete centre is a centre that registers candidates. There’s no how you will register at a particular centre and do thumb-printing at another centre. Before a centre can be accredited to register students, it must have the capacity to register candidates and the capacity to sit 250 candidates.”
