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Tag: Dr Fabian Benjamin

Electronic devices remain banned from exam halls – JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Sunday insisted the use of electronic devices by candidates during the unified tertiary matriculation examinations (UTME) remained prohibited.

The agency said electronic devices like mobile phones, calculators, wristwatches and recorders won’t be allowed into any of its centres by candidates during this year’s examination.

JAMB stated these in its Weekly Bulletin obtained by our reporter in Abuja on Sunday.

Some of the banned items include: spy reading glasses, cameras, ear piece, Bluetooth devices, USB, CD, hard disk and other similar storage devices.

Others are: pen/biro, smart lenses, books or any reading/writing material, ink/pen readers, key holders, ATM cards, erasers and smart rings/jewelries.

The statement reads: “To ensure that the board’s examinations meet best global practice, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has prohibited the use of the following items during examinations.

“Candidates are hereby advised in their best interest not to bring these items close to the examination venue. Any breach of this directive would bar the candidates from taking the examination.”

JAMB’s Spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said candidates have been complying with the directives since it was introduced by the agency.

He stated some candidates who breached the directive and brought some of the devices to the hall were caught and handed over to security agencies.

READ ALSO:2019 UTME: JAMB registers over 1.6 million few days to closure

According to him, the essence of the ban is to ensure that JAMB’s examination meets global best practice.

He said: “Candidates have been complying. The board had provided lockers where candidates can lock their personal belongings. However, if you are caught in the hall with any of them, certainly you would be sanctioned.

“Last year we caught a lady that had a phone in her private part and she was taken to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and she was prosecuted.”

Chairman, Governing Board of JAMB, Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe, attributed the ban on cyber café from handling its registration on the need to have a seamless, free from all kinds of infractions registration process.

Ndukwe noted the ban became inevitable following the review of the activities of cybercafé operators.

He explained that registration was a vital component of any successful examination and as such, it should not be marred by extortion, mismatched data and poor technical know-how.

He added that the agency would continue to define the code of operations with a view to enhancing the system for the benefit of all candidates.

February 17, 2019
JAMB releases results of rescheduled UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Tuesday, announced that the Direct Entry (DE) application, which began in December 2017, would close on June 4.

The Board’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made the announcement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja.

According to Benjamin, over 140, 000 candidates have so far obtained the forms online.

He said that the closure became necessary in order to avail the board to plan ahead for the 2018 admission process into various institutions.

“With the policy meeting coming up on June 26, which involves the Minister of Education and all stakeholders in the sector, the 2018 admission guidelines would be discussed and approved for the board.

Read Also:JAMB announces closure of Direct Entry application

“This includes both for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and DE.

“Therefore, candidates who are still interested and want to apply for the DE should use the window period of seven days to apply, as no extension of date will be granted.”

Similarly, Benjamin said that the board has released the results of the mop up examination conducted for candidates, who were rescheduled for the UTME on Saturday, May 26.

NAN recalls that the board had recently, conducted a mop up examination for over 12, 000 candidates in some of its centres across the country.

This included those whose biometrics could not be captured during the initial period of the UTME in March, those who were yet to see their results and have not been involved in any form of malpractice.

Others included those who were unable to print out their e-slip before the earlier examinations and those whose centres were cancelled for suspected malpractices.

On the admission process, Benjamin told NAN that the board frowned at some institutions that have breached the constitutional guidelines for the entire process by making advertorials before the policy meeting.

He explained that all institutions must note that they are not to make any form of adverts for admissions into their schools until after the policy meeting.

According to the spokesman, this is because the meeting is the only authorised body that approves admission process for every preceding year.

“Advertising before the policy meeting is a violation and abuse of the entire process.

“They must recall that at the meeting, all proceedings, rules and regulations guiding the admissions are discussed and unanimously approved by all stakeholders.

“However, a list of institutions that breached this rule are being compiled by the board and to be forwarded to the appropriate body for sanction.”

Benjamin added that in view of the above, those who intend to make admission adverts before the slated meeting, are urged to have a rethink and halt.

He also noted that the 2018 policy meeting of the education sector was coming early to allow institutions begin an early admission.

May 29, 2018
UTME: NSCDC arrests candidate who hid phone in pant

Operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested one Miss Joy Apkabio and her accomplice, Andrew Etziuala, for alleged involvement in examination malpractice in the ongoing unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME).

Miss Akpabio was caught using a phone which she carried into the hall in her private parts.

The Commandant, NSCDC Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Mr. Patrick Akpan, disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday in Company of Spokesperson of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Dr. Fabian Benjamin.

Mr. Akpan said the suspects were apprehended at Baptist Academy, Karu, a suburb in the outskirt of the Federal Capital Territory.

The commandant, who revealed that Miss Akpabio concealed the mobile phone in her pant, said she was caught on CCTV cameras while using the phone to cheat.

Master Etziuala on the other hand, was said to have supplied her answers to the questions through text messages.

The answers, Dr. Benjamin said, dated back to 1990 JAMB questions and not that of 2018 questions.

The board had banned the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices from examination centres.

Mr. Akpan said: “We have in our custody today two suspects that were involved in examination malpractice in the ongoing JAMB UTME. Their level of involvement are as follows, a lady whose name is, went into the exam hall with a telephone handset and this is against the rules covering the JAMB examination.

“She concealed the telephone set inside her panties and she went in un-detected and while the examination nation was going on, she brought it out.

“With the use of modern technology; you know the examination centres have CCTV cameras that are sending live transmission of activities that are taking place in the examination hall, and the activities of our men and other JAMB officials who were deployed to the centres, we were able to detect what she was doing and she was immediately arrested.

“Upon interrogation, we were also able to arrest her accomplice who is another young man by the name Andrew who introduced her into the business and was equally involved in sending text messages of supposedly answers to the examination she was doing.

“They are in our custody now and we are going to carry out further investigations regarding their involvement and to know if there are other accomplice, he will equally be traced and arrested and thereafter, they will be prosecuted in a law court.

Dr. Benjamin noted that their arrests would serve as a deterrent to other candidates.

Benjamin, who said the board would continue to maintain the integrity of its examinations, added that its partnership with NSCDC would ensure that any candidate caught bridging its rules are arrested.

He said: “Just as the commandant has said, we are doing this not because she has been arrested, we want this to serve as a deterrent to other candidates. This particular candidacy was spotted from our headquarters, web have made it clear that all our centres are covered by CCTV cameras.

“We are also monitoring what is happening in all the centres from our headquarters. We got a report that something was happening in Baptist Academy, Karu, and we immediately dispatched a team who went there and go the candidate arrested.

“We want to sound it very clear that there is no shortcut success. It is no longer business as usual because you will be spotted if you do anything in the examination hall.

“This particular candidate went into the hall with her phone and text messages were sent to her, but we discover that the answers were for 1990 JAMB questions, they are not for 2018 questions at all. You can see the level of deception. Even if she wasn’t arrested, she would have failed.

“We want Nigerians to know that the sanctity of this examination is very sacrosanct. We will not allow anybody to destroy what we are doing, we will continue to partner with NSCDC to ensure that whoever attempts to bridge the rule of the game is arrested.

He added that over one million candidates had written the examination which commenced last Friday.

Miss Akpabio, confessed that she hid the phone to beat the security checks and that she was caught in the examination hall when she brought it out for usage.

She said: “I was caught with a phone in exam hall. Actually, I was about bringing out the phone to make use of it and they saw me.”

When asked if she was aware that she was not supposed to go into the examination hall with a phone, she said yes. “It was just an accident.”

Akpabio, who said she applied to study Business Administration, added that she had sat for JAMB for more than four times and had been unable to secure admission.

“My last score was 179,” she said.

She claimed that other candidates were using their phones when she was caught.

Etziuala who was sending answers to her phone explained that the answers were generated by another member of the syndicate operating from a Business Centre in Jikwoyi.

He said the suspect at large, allegedly hacked into JAMB examination questions and generated answers which were forwarded to him (Etziuala), who in turn forward them to Akpabio in the examination hall.

Etziuala, who said he was a student of Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, said he regretted his action describing it as a big mistake.

“I did not know it will lead to something like this. I am just bothered that this has tarnished my image and others should learn from it,” he said.

Read Also: UTME 2018: JAMB vows to fight malpractice, cautions against fraudsters

March 13, 2018
JAMB extends registration by five days

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has extended registration for the unified tertiary matriculation examination till Sunday 11, by 12 midnight.

The board said registration for Direct Entry candidates continues.

JAMB Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, made the announcement in a statement after a meeting with directors of the agency on Tuesday, in Abuja.

The board advised candidates to use the period to complete their registration as request for further extension would not be entertained.

The statement reads: The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) announces the extension of registration for 2018 UTME till midnight of Sunday, 11^thFebruary, 2018.

“JAMB as a responsive organization has taken the decision albeit with great hesitation to accommodate candidates who failed to register between the two months window period that ended at midnight of Tuesday, 6^th February, 2018.

“The failure of these candidates to register is unfortunate and the board hastens to add that this culture of impunity will not be tolerated and indeed penalty may be imposed for late registration in future.

“UTME candidates are therefore strongly advised to take advantage of the extension to register as request for further extension would not be entertained.”

Earlier, JAMB registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede had told reporters that a total of 1,451,691 million candidates had registered for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, while 39,663 candidates were for the Direct Entry.

He stated this when he received the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu.

The examination is expected to hold on March 7 across 649 computer based test centres.

February 6, 2018
UTME 2018: JAMB warns telecom firms against multiple charges

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has urged telecommunication companies to stop collecting multiple charges from candidates attempting to register for next year’s unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) and direct entry (DE) examination.

The board’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, made the appeal in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the multiple charges is being carried out by telecommunication companies enlisted to provide profile code creation services through sending and receiving of SMS.

According to him, telecom firms are supposed to charge candidates N50 per SMS, noting that candidates are being made to pay multiple charges due to poor network or processing failure.

Dr. Benjamin advised the telecom service providers to stop the multiple charges and stick to the agreement reached with JAMB.

According to him, candidates who are victims of these multiple charges are to raise a complaint support ticket on support.jamb.gov.ng for redress and further action by the board.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Joint admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been drawn to multiple SMS charges on candidates phone numbers attempting to register for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) by telecommunications companies enlisted to provide Profile code creation services through sending and receiving of SMS.

“The telecom companies are to charge only 50 Naira per SMS to use the service. Candidates are made to repeat these SMS commands several times either due to poor network or processing failure leading to rapid response(s) after the command is sent. The Board therefore advises telecom service providers to stop the multiple charges and stick to the agreement reached with the Board.

“The Board would insist on a refund by any Telecom that continue to charge these candidates twice. We are mindful of the nation’s network challenges and does not expect the candidates to pay for the Telecoms infrastructural difficulties.”

Meanwhile, JAMB has faulted claims by the Colleges of Education Academics Staff Union (COEASU) that it (board) placed universities over and above Colleges of Education in the choices for candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

COEASU, in a communique had claimed that the board placed more priority in terms of choice by making universities first (1st) choice and Colleges of Education third (3rd) choice which is responsible for making colleges of education a dumping ground and less attractive as more brilliant candidates would have chosen universities first.

“The Board wishes to correct this erroneous impression. Our advertisement typically, including this year, request candidates to make any institution as their first choice, Colleges of Education inclusive.

“Our caption has always been ” Order of choice of Institutions : Every candidate is to note that the 1st choice can be a College of Education, University, Innovation Enterprise Institution…” This was made clear to COEASU during their visit with copies of our adverts provided to them. It is strange to the Board for COEASU to issue such a misleading communique.

“We have never placed any candidate(s) nor advice candidates on the choice of institution as it is the candidates’ volition to determine which institution to pick as their first choice and also which course to study. Candidates are at liberty to choose any institution they desire,” the statement said.

JAMB said it was baffled that COEASU could issue such a misleading communique regarding the matter.

The statement added that the 2018 application documents published in the national dailies “are clear, self-explanatory and devoid of any priority or preference as alleged by COEASU.”

December 21, 2017
JAMB warns UTME candidates against fake questions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board ( JAMB ) has drawn the attention of candidates for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to fake past question papers in circulation.

The Board said the fake past questions in circulation in CD are intended to defraud unsuspecting candidates.

The agency’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, gave the warning in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja.

The statement reads: “The fake past questions in CD Rom titled: ‘JAMB PRO CBT practice software for UTME’ was purported to have emanated from JAMB in other to give credence to the products market and perpetuate their nefarious activities.

“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Boards wish to dissociate itself from the production and sale of the fake CD and warned the public to be vigilant and avoid being defrauded.”

Dr. Benjamin said the board had not authorized anybody or group to do so on its behalf.

According to him, preliminary investigation by the Board showed that the past questions in circulation are fake and had no semblance to JAMB question papers both in context, content and forms.

He added: “The Board as a responsible and responsive organization would not be part of any ploy to defraud innocent candidate and has put machinery in motion for any of her outlets and service providers not be used as channel of exploitation or distribution of such fake items.

“Following the unfortunate development, the Board has directed all its CBT centres to be wary of this CD in circulation in other not to be used as a channel to market this product.

“The Board will continue to ensure that candidates applying for its examination are not misled. Some of these questions in the past have led to some brilliant candidates failing the examination because they relied on them. Please be mindful of these cheats with www.jproonline.com as their website.

“Candidates are therefore advised to study for the examination and channel all enquires to any of the Board offices nationwide for any redress, challenges or information.”

December 12, 2017
2017/18 admission processes commence September 15 – JAMB

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said on Friday that the admission processes for 2017/2018 would commence on September 15 and close on January 31, 2018.

The Head of JAMB Information and Media, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said in Abuja that the direct entry applications for admission would close on September 15.

He said students could only secure admission after they might have passed through the rudiments of admission processes.

He said: “We have come up with Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) this year.

“This entails that once candidates are admitted and the institution approves, then JAMB will approve, the information about the candidates will be keyed into CAPS automatically.

“Candidates can monitor their admission process through CAPS online and those who want to get admission letter can do so by printing such online.’’

According to him, CAPS will make record gathering easy and give easy access to students to print their admission letters among other things.

“What we are trying to do now is that we are looking at the perimeter realistically; we decided to come up with new strategy aimed at ensuring the actual data,” he added.

Benjamin also said the 120 minimum cut-off mark would not in any way affect the nation’s educational standard negatively as being alleged by some people.

He said the issue of the 120 cut-off mark was a policy of heads of tertiary institutions across the country, being the outcome of their policy meeting recently.

“The cut off mark was not the decision of JAMB, but the heads of tertiary institutions at the policy meeting.

“They decided that their institutions should be allowed to determine their own cut-off point based on their own peculiarities, but nobody for whatever reason should go below 120,” the JAMB spokesman stated.

Benjamin said the sustenance of post- UTME was a ministerial decision.

According to him, we are not opposed to the directive, we see nothing wrong with it, and our interest is to ensure that the goal of admission is achieved.

“What we are all doing is to ensure that the power given to tertiary institutions is based on policies which established them,’’ he said.

According to him, the important thing is for tertiary institutions to do what is right.

He noted that most tertiary institutions did not comply with the previous 180 cut-off mark given last year.

August 25, 2017
JAMB begins sale of Direct Entry forms

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said on Tuesday it has commenced the sale of Direct Entry application form for candidates with A-level results and wished to gain direct admission to degree programmes in Nigerian institutions.

JAMB’s Head of Media, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The body also said it has commenced the sale of unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) application for Nigerians abroad and foreign candidates who desire to attend tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Dr. Fabian said the application process for Direct Entry candidates is similar to the UTME where candidates created a profile and obtained their pins and proceeded for biometric capturing at the computer based test (CBT) centres.

He urged all candidates wishing to register through DE to obtain their pins at Interswitch, Remita or any of the commercial banks approved earlier for the vending of UTME pins.

The board warned candidates not to make payment into any individual’s account.

The statement reads: “The Board also wishes to state that it has not commenced the change of course and institutions process. We will soon begin and when we do start, the changes will be done in all approved CBT centres nationwide.

“Candidates need not necessarily come to the Board’s centres for the change. It can be done in any of the CBT centres. This is to avoid overcrowding of our offices for services that can be obtained at the utmost comfort by the candidates.

“The delay has been occasioned by the Board’s preparation to ensure that the system is smooth and without encumbrances.

“The public is urged to note that every candidate desirous of a change of course or institution will be allowed to do so as the platform will be open until the close of admission. Candidates need not panic or get desperate as it will not be closed as being speculated by those who want to use the opportunity of candidates’ desperation to defraud them.

“In view of this, they are not to patronize any fraudulent individuals or organizations but to visit approved CBT centres and never to hesitate in cross checking any information they are not too clear about.

“Again we will continue to advise candidates not to be a victim of fraudsters who claim to have the capacity to inflate candidates’ scores, they do not have such ability and when caught the Board will prosecute both the fraudsters and the candidate who patronize them.”

July 11, 2017
Supplementary UTME satisfactory–JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has described its supplementary Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) held across 170 centres nationwide as satisfactory.

The board’s Head of Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday.

The board’s Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, had after the conduct of the main examination that held between May 10 and May 20 announced the cancellation of 59,698 results of the 1.7 million candidates.

He hinged the cancellation on what he had described as ‘organised malpractice.’

Oloyede also announced the blacklisting of 48 Computer Based Test Centres (CBTs) over their involvement in extortion and organised examination malpractice during the same examination.

He, however, noted that the board had fixed July 1 for supplementary examination for candidates who had registered late for this year’s UTME.

Oloyede added that some of the candidates, whose results were cancelled, would also take part in the rescheduled examination, having discovered that they were not directly involved in such malpractice.

He also listed other categories of candidates with issues such as biometric non-verification machine related issues, technical and log out issues, incomplete results and candidates who lost examination sessions due to malfunctioning of servers at the affected centre as those to participate in the supplementary UTME.

Oloyede had noted that the decision to allow the candidates sit for the rescheduled examination was reached after a thorough review of all the reports that emanated from their centres.

According to Benjamin, however, no fewer than 85,000 candidates participated in the supplementary examination.

“I must say we are happy with the conduct of the rescheduled examination. In fact the conduct of the examination in all the centres was satisfactory.

“We did not anticipate any challenges and I must say it was well monitored going by the fact that the number of candidates that participated was just a fraction of the number that had sat for the examination earlier in May.

“Having said this however, we do not envisage coming across issues that led to the cancelation of results of some candidates after the main examination.

“ But in an event where we come across any, we will not hesitate to cancel such results again.

“We have just concluded the examination and we are hopeful that within the next 24 hours, candidates will start receiving their results,’’ he said.

NAN reports that no fewer than five centres were used in the conduct of the examination in Lagos.

July 1, 2017
Portal for candidates’ personal data correction not open – JAMB

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has not opened its portal for candidates in the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to effect the change of course or correction of data, an official has said.

The Head of Media and Information of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday that many candidates bombarded the Lagos office of the organisation for these purposes.

Benjamin said that reports reaching the headquarters of the board indicated that a large crowd of candidates on Wednesday besieged the board’s Lagos office.

He said the development was creating unnecessary anxiety and chaos where there should be none.

“This announcement became necessary following the crowd in our offices by candidates demanding for such services.

“Affected candidates are urged to remain calm as we shall contact them when the time is right.

“The request for correction of data is usually from candidates, who provided wrong information while filling their application document online,’’ Benjamin said.

According to him, the change of institutions is for those who are considering other preferences other than their initial choices.

He noted that the candidates were misled to believe that the board had started such services and would soon close.

He said that when the board opened the window for correction of data and change of course it would make the announcement.

He assures all candidates desirous of carrying out the correction of data or change of institution that the board would ensure that enough time was given for them to do so.

Benjamin also explained that the board had not finished with the conduct of the 2017 UTME.

“The board is still conducting examinations for those who registered late and those who could not be verified during the examination.

“As such, it will be unfair to them to open window for such correction and changes at the same time.

“Our reforms are meant to make our services accessible to all conveniently.’’

He also said that JAMB would decentralise the service when it eventually opened its portal for it.

“We are collaborating with the University of Lagos, Yaba College of Technology and other stakeholders on this in Lagos. We will do same in other states.

“This will ease the pressure on our various offices and ensure a hitch-free process.’’

More than 1.7 million candidates registered for the examination that was conducted from May 13 to May 20 nationwide.

Results of majority of the candidates have been released while some others have yet to be released as the board is still scrutinising them.

June 1, 2017