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  • JAMB releases results of 1.7m candidates, withholds 34, 120

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board yesterday released the results of 1, 792, 719 candidates who wrote the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    Similarly, the board has withheld the results of 34, 120 candidates including the results of 15,145 candidates it clarified as “identical twins and siblings.” JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, in a sixteen page address titled: “Doing things right and doing right things,” broke the news to reporters yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    A 15-year-old boy, Ekele Franklin from Imo State, is the overall best candidate in the 2019 UTME. Franklin, who made University of Lagos his first choice, scored 347 and may not be admitted because of his age. Oloyede said Emmanuel Chidebube, a 16-year-old boy from Abia came second with a score of 346, while Isaac Olamide, a 17-year-old from Osun came third with 345. In all 2,906 candidates scored over 300 as against 4,683 in 2018. According to Oloyede, 57,579 candidates scored between 250 and 299 as against 64,120 in the 2018 results.

    Prof. Oloyede said 1, 826, 839 candidates sat for the UTME of the 1,886,508 candidates that registered for the examination which was conducted in 698 computer-based test (CBT) centres nationwide from April 11 – 18. He said: “Today, we are releasing the results of 1,792,719 candidates. Some 34,120 results are being withheld including the results of 15,145 candidates being further clarified as identical twins and siblings.” He advised candidates to check their results through the phone numbers they used for registration.

    REad also:

    “Candidates are advised to use the phone numbers they used to register to text RESULT to 55019. For the first three days or between now and Monday, the only means of checking the results of candidates would be through the Short Code (55019). This is to ensure that fraudsters who would want to exploit candidates by reproducing messages and sending such messages to them are frustrated. There is no need to approach any CBT Centre or cyber café to check results. Those who were ABSENT, got their Registration CANCELLED or have their results WITHHELD will be told.

    “The board has decided to send both photo and biometric details of candidates to Institutions. We have also put bar codes on the result slips that candidates will be printing. The essence of this is that once a candidate approaches an institution for Post-UTME screening, the institution will use the bar code scanner to authenticate the candidate. However, if a candidate brings a manipulated slip as the case may be at times, the Institution can type in the registration number to ensure that it is not a fake slip that is presented.

    “Candidates who presently enjoy undue favour of benefit of the doubt will then be exposed and more results can then be cancelled for post examination fraud- attempt. A total of 116 Centres have been delisted or suspended. Out of this number, 18 have been sanctioned by the Governing Board of JAMB with suspension for between one and three year for registration related misconduct,” he said. The registrar said this year’s examination was infiltrated by overzealous parents and professional examination fraudsters who engaged in impersonation in connivance with operators of CBT centres.

     

  • PHOTOS: JAMB releases 2019 UTME results

    Registrar, Joint Admission Marticulation Board JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede(left) Director, Test Administration, Dr Yusuf Lawal and Director Psychometrics Dr Kunmi Popoola during the press briefing on the release of 2019 JAMB result in Abuja on Saturday

  • JAMB VS university admission fraudsters

    I have read the interview granted by the chief executive officer and registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, which was given a copious mention in the May 6, edition of The Nation.

    I commend and congratulate JAMB under Prof. Oloyede for taking on the gauntlet to fight these fraudsters in order to sanitize the system of admission into Nigerian universities.

    To address this issue, it is important to stress that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established pursuant to Section 1 of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Act, CapJ1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which came into effect on September 7, 1989.

    Pursuant to the law, JAMB has the general control of the conduct of matriculation examinations for admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

    Nigeria, as I all know, is currently facing a labyrinth of problems one of which is poor quality of education as a result of which our public universities annually churn out half-baked graduates who find it difficult to compete in the ever competitive global marketplace.

    Everywhere all over the world, universities are established for learning and character. This is one of the main reasons why we whole-heartedly support the current JAMB war against admission fraudsters. But then, the point must be made that admission fraud into our universities is not a new thing. It has always been there, may be not at the level we know it today.

    When I was Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos between 2000 and 2007, I discovered that each time we wanted to start the semester examinations, some students usually caused trouble to ensure that such examinations did not hold. We went into action and found that it was those who procured very high JAMB marks from “Miracle Centres” but who could not cope with the space and speed of academic works that were the architects of the chaos to prevent the conduct of examinations.

    It is therefore no surprise to me that JAMB has found a whole professor writing examination for his son including accusations of some fraudsters collaborating with JAMB personnel.

    It was matters like this that led to my campaign when I was the chairman of pro-chancellors of Nigerian universities that JAMB should be scrapped because the integrity of its examinations had been compromised.

    However, government in its wisdom, decided to adopt a middle way approach to the matter by directing that JAMB should not be scrapped, but instead that tertiary institutions could screen candidates they want to admit through the Post-UTME after such candidates have successfully passed their JAMB examinations.

    In developed countries, every university has the right to screen the candidates it wants to admit. It also has the right to embark on other exercises, whether written or unwritten, to make it and its products stand out. It is for this reason that any student applying to study Law in the University of Oxford is mandatorily required to take the Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT); any student applying for Biomedical Sciences must take Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT); any student applying for Chemistry must take Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) while any one applying for Classics must take Classics Admission Test (CAT).

    While I agree that JAMB should continue to sanitize the admission process, it should not be done at the expense of international best practices. For example, all over the world, the university academic calendar is usually between September and June. But the case is different with public universities in Nigeria where the pandemic strike actions afflicting Nigeria’s educational landscape has almost become a ritual with one strike action taking off no sooner than another one that has just been called off, thereby nearly bringing the nation to its knees, educationally speaking.

    For example, public universities in Nigeria are yet to complete first semester works for the 2018/2019 academic session in the same country where private universities, including Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, are winding up for the session, ready to go on vacation.

    Indeed, the private universities have made preparations for admission for the 2019/2020 academic session. Most private universities, including ABUAD, are therefore disturbed at the delay in releasing the result of the last JAMB examination which was conducted between April 11 and 18.

    I sympathize with parents and children, particularly the innocent ones, whose results are being withheld because of the misdeeds of others. It is on this note that I will like to appeal to JAMB to do the best it could to fast-track its on-going commendable biometric verification exercise and release the results of its recently conducted examinations so that when we are combatting the fraudsters, the innocent parents and children do not suffer.

     

    • Aare Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, is the Founder & Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti.

  • JAMB set to publish names of highly-placed Nigerians involved in exam fraud

    The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, yesterday said the outcome of its probe into examination fraud between 2009 and 2019 will shock many Nigerians.

    He said the board has discovered that some prominent Nigerians occupying high positions in the society did not sit its examination by themselves.

    Prof. Oloyede said although the board may not be able to punish the culprits because they have already left the system, it would go ahead to publish their names in order to shame them.

    The JAMB Registrar said these yesterday while speaking at the 23rd annual seminar of the Nigerian Academy of Education under the topic, “Admissions into tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria.”

    He also said the board has hired a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to conduct the prosecution of more than 100 persons caught in various malpractices during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which held between April 11 and 18, and who were arrested by security operatives across the country.

    The registrar did not name the SAN leading the prosecution of the errant UTME candidates and professional examination fraudsters.

    He also did not state the day the 2019 UTME results would be released.

    Oloyede said the board was amused by insinuation that its server had crashed. Such comments, he said, were amusing to members of the board.

    The registrar said: “If I were to be punishing every staff of JAMB that is committing infractions, I will not focus on the assignment. I will be going from one disciplinary committee to the other and my attention will be diverted.

    “And that is why I go for the shortest route: once you are caught to have committed one infraction, you will not be assigned with examination duties again. It is a privilege, which I can withdraw.

    “If you are that bad that I don’t want to see your face around me, I will transfer you to another place.

    Read also: JAMB urges candidates to guard registration details, profile code

    “If we have to take disciplinary action against all of them, look at it, today, we have not less than 100 people in police cells across the country who were caught for examination malpractices.

    “I have appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is a former Solicitor-General to help me oversee all these so that the suspects can be brought to book.

    “And my Director of Legal asked me, what offences should we charge these people for; for multiple registration? And I said, why can’t we go to the Examination Malpractice Act?

    “So, my problem has started with having to draft the charges, despite the fact that we have evidence against them. That is the beginning of the problem.

    “I will now ask to be paying my staff to travel out of Abuja to be testifying in court as they are adjourning month after month the cases, and we will be wasting money and time on transport.

    “So even now, what we have seen, I tell people that I am more tolerant of corruption in JAMB than when I was as a vice-chancellor at the University of Ilorin.”

    He added that the board has de-listed no fewer than 76 Computer-Based Test Centres for various infractions in the recently concluded unified tertiary matriculation examination.

  • JAMB conducts UTME for 200 foreign candidates

    Over 200 candidates at the weekend sat for a foreign-based unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    The foreign-based examination was conducted for Nigerians abroad and citizens of other nationalities who want to study in Nigeria.

    The examination was conducted in Ghana, United Kingdom, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Cöte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

    The board said the UTME was conducted to give equal opportunity to Nigerians in Diaspora and foreigners who are desirous of acquiring qualitative tertiary education in Nigeria.

    These were disclosed in the board’s weekly bulletin released to the media by its Head of Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday, in Abuja.

    Benjamin said candidates who wrote the examination hailed the board for the various innovations the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has introduced since he took over the agency.

    The bulletin reads: “The exercise which was administered hitch free was a testimony to the commitment and capacity of the board to render quality service to the nation whenever the need arises.

    Read Also: UTME results: JAMB warns candidates against fraudsters

    “Over 200 candidates took the UTME examination that held simultaneously on Saturday, 27th April, 2019 in all the aforementioned centres.

    “We are not just conducting the examination in these countries on account of the candidates alone which was, at any rate, negligible but because we also want to showcase Nigeria’s giant strides in technological advancement on the global scene.”

    Also on Sunday, JAMB warned candidates to disregard messages or calls from anybody claiming to have access to its classified information.

    “The board wishes to state emphatically that the results of the 2019 UTME have not been released,” it said in a statement.

    It urged the public, particularly parents and candidates, to be wary of dubious elements and disregard any overtures made by anybody touting their power or influence to inflate any candidate’s score.

    “The board wishes to state emphatically that the results of the 2019 UTME have not been released.

    “The board will make the (results) public when they are ready. Security operatives have picked up some of these nefarious characters and they are on the trail of others still at large,” it added.

     

  • JAMB cancels results in two centres in Abia

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cancelled results of two Computer Based Test (CBT) centres in Abia State over widespread irregularities during the just-concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    It said the cancellation of the results followed visual evidence obtained from a careful review of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) recordings by a panel of experts engaged by the board.

    The board said all the results of the examination sessions conducted by the two centres from April 11 to 18, 2019 are therefore “null and void.”

    JAMB, in its Weekly Bulletin released in Abuja yesterday by its Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin,  identified the CBT centres as Heritage and Infinity CBT centre and Okwyzil Computer Institute Comprehensive School, Ugwunabo, Aba.

    He said the board has decided to screen the activities of all its CBT centres through CCTV recordings before it can release the results of this year’s UTME.

    The spokesperson explained that the measure was to ensure that the board does not release the results of a compromised examination.

    He said: “By implication, all the results of all examination sessions starting from April 11, 2019 to 18 April, 2019 conducted by the board at these two centres were cancelled. What occasioned this drastic action by the board was the visual evidence derived from a careful review of the CCTV recordings by a panel of experts engaged by the board.

    “However, in order not to unduly punish honest and hardworking candidates who found themselves attached to these two centres, the board magnanimously relocated all the candidates who had taken or were scheduled to take their examination in the two centres to other centres where they had subsequently taken their examinations.

    “The board will continue to act decisively with regard to any irregularity discovered even after the results are released. However, the board has made it a point of duty to screen all activities at all centres via CCTV recordings before releasing the results to ensure that it does not release the results of compromised examinations.”

    JAMB apologised to innocent candidates involved in the relocation for inconveniencies they may have suffered and reaffirmed its commitment to providing equal opportunity to all candidates to articulate their hopes and aspirations.

    No fewer than 100 persons arrested by security operatives for engaging in impersonation and fraudulent practices during the examination.

    The board noted that the annual examination had been bedeviled by unwholesome practices by candidates, their parents and other accomplices.

    Benjamin said the fraudsters were engaged in multiple registration to facilitate impersonation during the examination, saying that this challenge inflates the annual registration figure for the UTME exercise by 30 per cent.

    He said that data available to the board showed that the unwholesome practice was prevalent in virtually all the states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    The JAMB spokesperson said that among those arrested was a notorious cheat who had registered about 64 times in a bit to “ghost-write” for 64 candidates.

    According to him, the arrest of the culprits was made possible by the comprehensive and mandatory identity checks conducted on those taking the examination with a view to fishing out professional ghost writers before the release of the results.

    “The board, in its unrelenting efforts to stamp out all forms of examination malpractices had synergised with relevant security agencies nationwide to entrap culprits, resulting in their apprehension.”

    Also yesterday, the dismissed a report on the alleged reduction of UTME scores as fake.

    A trending report claimed yesterday that the scores of candidates were being reduced, a claim the JAMB spokesman said was false.

    The report had claimed that scores of candidates who sat for the UTME and were found wanting by the board, were being reduced by 100 marks.

    JAMB said that an investigation carried out discovered that the fake news emanated from a gang who coordinated from a town called Igarra, Edo State, with affiliates in Lagos and other states.

    The board described the act as fraudulent and meant to extort parents and candidates.

    The statement reads: “A gang being coordinated from a town called Igarra in Edo State with affiliates in Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Abia, Anambra and Plateau states are circulating fake notice of impending reduction of UTME scores.

    “This is with intent to extort and defraud parents and candidates. Candidates’ results would be received on their registered cell phones as soon as the ongoing scrutiny of the examination centers are completed and publicly announced.

    “Only the fraudulent candidates or parents stand being defrauded on this matter,” the board said.

  • UTME results: JAMB warns candidates against fraudsters

    Candidates who sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be notified through their telephones as soon as all the results of the examinations are out, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), said yesterday.

    The board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, who gave the assurance in Lagos, cautioned candidates against being carried away by what he described as rumours and misleading information in some sections of the media, especially the social media.

    The 2019 UTME was conducted nationwide from Thursday, April 11 to Wednesday, April 18.

    Over 1.8 million candidates registered for the examination.

    He said: “The board wants to distance itself from such rumours about releasing the results of candidates of the just concluded UTME and steps to check these results as being speculated.

    “Candidates should disregard this information as it is not true. It is not emanating from the board. No results have been released yet. Yes the results are all ready, but we are yet to release them because they are still being ratified.

    “The board is carrying out all the checks and balances, regarding of these results by way of viewing the CCTV camera as well as attend to all findings brought before it while the examination lasted.

    “The release of the result will be publicised as soon as we are through with all the board has set out to achieve. We will let the public know.

    “Candidates should not bother themselves going to any cyber cafe to check any result. Our result check has been standardised. We will forward the results to the respective telephone numbers of those candidates who are deserving of it.”

    He said the board was intensifying efforts to release the results of deserving candidates next week.

    Benjamin further explained that it was not also true that the board was deducting some marks from candidates with proven cases of examination malpractice.

    According to him, once the board establishes evidence of any form of examination malpractice, it will cancel outright, the result of such candidate rather than deduct marks.

    He said: “If we establish any case of infraction or examination malpractise being carried out in any centre too, such centre is shut down and the entire results of candidates who wrote in that centre from the commencement of the examination, which is Aprill 11 to the end will automatically be cancelled.

    “Such affected candidates are rescheduled immediately for the examination in another centre as was the case in some centres in Abia.”

    He added that the board made several arrests of persons caught trying to undermine the integrity of the examination and process, while it lasted, just like it shut down centres that fell short of standard.

    Benjamin said the Prof. Ishaq Oloyede-led examination body has a zero-tolerance for any form of corruption, which included examination malpractice.

    He said: “Right now, we have just read from a major national daily that an ex-JAMB staff is about to be arraigned by the EFCC over an alleged diversion of about N100 million belonging to the board.

    “Let me make it clear that this said case was not during the tenure of the current JAMB Registrar. In, fact, one of the major guidelines of the current board is total transparency and accountability, coupled with its open door policy.”

  • EFCC probes N8.7billion fraud in JAMB

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched into a probe of the cash inflow and outflow of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) between 2010 and 2016.

    The anti-graft agency wants to get to the root of an alleged N8.7billion fraud in the board.

    Fifteen suspects have already been shortlisted for trial.

    Among them are some zonal heads and state coordinators. One of the suspects facing trial is a female accountant, Philomena Chise, whose sensational claim that  a snake swallowed N36million raked in from the sales of e-facility cards rocked the nation.

    Chise later told EFCC operatives that the said N36milion was disbursed as an I-Owe-You advance to cash-strapped staff.

    The N8.7billion alleged fraud is said to have predated the present JAMB management, led by Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.

    A document detailing the alleged fraud and sighted by The Nation says the large sum was revenue from sales of e-facility cards and change of course cards which ended in private pockets.

    “The remittance of over N8billion by Oloyede to the Federal Government as revenue led to the Forensic Investigation of Financial Activities of JAMB between 2010 and 2016 by Faithpro Consulting Auditing Associate (Financial and Management Consultants),” it says.

    “The forensic investigators came up with N8.7billion shortfall within the same period which the EFCC has been investigating. There are about 15 suspects who may face trial in the first batch.”

    Some of the states where the fraud was detected include Benue, Nasarawa, Kano, Kogi, Plateau, Gombe, Yobe and Edo.

    Read also: EFCC arraigns dismissed judge Ajumogobia for ‘money laundering’

    Some of the  suspects under investigation, who may face trial   include Chise and Sale Umar (Benue); Labaran Tanko (Nasarawa);  Daniel Agbo (Kogi), Yakubu Jekada (Plateau),  Patricia Ogunsola and  Cyril Izireim Imoukhuede (Edo); Murtala Abdul (Gombe); Aliyu Yakubu (Kano) among others.

    The report adds: “In Benue,  out of the expected revenue of N124, 180,00 from e-facility cards,  only N88,700,000  was remitted leaving a balance of N35.48million.

    “The JAMB office in the state also received 10,210 change of course cards and instead of remitting N8, 025,000, about N7million was paid into the designated account. About N1,025,000 is missing till date.

    “Although JAMB’s preliminary findings claimed that Chise confessed that a snake swallowed the N36m unremitted cash, she told the EFCC detectives that the shortfall was an I-Owe-You advance to cash-strapped staff that are yet to refund same.”

    Employees in Yobe State claimed to have  “lost sales records because of attacks on Damaturu by Boko Haram.”

    The story is similar in Edo State “where N26,400,000 is missing. Out of the expected revenue from e-facility cards of about N123, 933,000, only N97,533,000 was paid into the relevant account.”

    In Gombe, about N40, 004,000 sales revenue was realized but only N29, 073,000 was remitted leaving a balance of N10,269,000.”

    “An officer in Kano, in his efforts to cover up for 20,000 unaccounted cards worth N20million, cut carbon papers in the form of e-facility cards and returned these cards as unused.”

    The document revealed findings on Nasarawa State where an officer claimed to have lost over N24,037,000 cards in a road crash.

    The document added: “Investigation revealed that Mr. Labaran Tanko was the JAMB State Coordinator of Lafia Office, Nasarawa State between 2011 and 2016.

    “Investigation revealed that within the period of his tenure, Nasarawa State Office revealed a total of 24,882 e-facility cards out of which 24,037 were unsold while 845 were sold at the rate of N1,000 each. The expected revenue was N845,000 realized  and remitted to JAMB.

    “However he claimed that the remaining 23,147 cards got burnt in an accident he had along Lafia-Akwanga Expressway while 890 cards were missing.

    “Meanwhile, contrary to his submission, forensic evidence obtained from the IT Unit of JAMB showed that the cards were sold and utilized by candidates within Nasarawa State and its environs.

    “This forensic evidence showed the name, phone number and purpose for which the cards were used. The expected revenue from  the claimed burnt/missing cards was N24,037,000. The revenue from the cards, which were actually sold and utilized based on forensic evidence, was never remitted to JAMB.

    “Also investigation revealed that 2,000 CBT cards were supplied to Nasarawa State Office which were never sold. Rather,  the State Coordinator claimed that  the said 2,000 CBT cards were among the cards that got burnt in  road accident along Lafia-Akwanga Expressway.

    Contrary to the claim, investigation recovered forensic evidence which showed that the cards were actually not burnt but utilized by candidates within Nasarawa State and its environs. This forensic evidence further revealed the details of candidates hat used the cards, such as name, phone number and purpose for which the cards were used.

    “Further investigation revealed that 4, 589 change of course cards were supplied to Nasarawa State Office of which they sold 1,426 at the rate of N2,500 each while 3, 163 cards were unused and same was remitted to JAMB.  However, the State Coordinator claimed that the remaining 3,163 cards got burnt in the same road accident.  Forensic evidence, however, proved otherwise.”

  • We’re not involved in arrest, prosecution of union leaders —LASPOTECH management

    Authorities of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) yesterday denied complicity in the arrest and prosecution of some of its staff members allegedly involved in an attempt to murder two officials of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    The polytechnic said the story making rounds to smear the image of the Polytechnic’s management was a calculated attempt to distract the general public from the heinous act.

    The affected staff members are leading members of the Non –Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASU).

    The suspects were apprehended on Monday by the Sagamu Road Police Division and subsequently arraigned in court.

    In a statement signed by the Deputy Registrar (Information and Public Relations), Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, the polytechnic’s management said it’s not in any way involved in the arrest and trial of the eight suspects.

    The statement reads: ‘’To the best of the knowledge of LASPOTECH Management, the affected staff members that are currently facing trial were invited by the Nigeria Police for interrogation and charged to court in line with the dictates of the law.

    Read also: Court orders striking LASPOTECH unions to eschew violence

    ‘’The suspects were alleged to be involved in assaulting with petrol two officials of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and physically attacked and injured the Polytechnic’s Director of ICT on Friday March29, 2019 during the preparation  for JAMB ICT mock examination exercise in the Polytechnic.

    ‘’The general public could also recall that, the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, while reporting the readiness of his Board for the 2019 JAMB examination to the Honourable Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu on Monday April 1, 2019 lamented the attempt to set some of his officials ablaze at LASPOTECH center and vowed to ensure justice is done.

    ‘’It would also be recalled that, the affected officials reported the assault at the Sagamu road police station, and the Nigeria Police had since taken over the case.

    ‘’ The ongoing trial is strictly between the Nigeria Police and the suspects. It has nothing to do with the ongoing trade dispute that is already being attended to by the Lagos State Government.’’

  • Why we are yet to release UTME results, by JAMB

    THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board yesterday explained why it has not released the results of this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    Some of the candidates engaged in massive fraud and impersonation, thus putting their results in doubt, the board said.

    JAMB’s Head of Information Dr. Fabian Benjamin told reporters in Abuja yesterday that the board has started screening the results of all the candidates who wrote the examination and that it would release it as soon as it the process is concluded.

    Benjamin said: “We will not release the results in a hurry. We will do a lot of crosschecking and matchmaking to be sure that nobody that was engaged in illicit act will go scot free.

    “We will release the results as soon as we finish checking the results to ensure that all those ones that we caught in various illicit registration acts are properly dealt with and those that we could not arrest are withheld.

    “We will release the results when we finish doing our screening. We are screening the whole results. We don’t have the numbers now but we won’t release any result until we are sure of the whole thing.”

    Benjamin said the board has arrested over 100 persons for impersonation and other fraudulent practices during the examination.

    According to him, the board would fish out anyone who was engaged in sharp practices during the examination through their results and withhold them.

    Read also: JAMB gives update on 2019 UTME exams process, results

    The JAMB spokesperson said: “We are picking them across the nation. As at today, we have picked up over a hundred candidates and we are still picking.

    “Though we may not be able to pick all of them because of logistics problem and the state but what we are doing now for those we could not  pick who may have written the exam and gone, we are fishing them out true their result.”

    Benjamin also said the board was investigating cases of biometric verification failure in some states.

    He assured that the board would do the needful once it finished its investigation and found the reported cases to be genuine.

    The JAMB spokesman said: “We will not be able to say genuine now until we do our due diligence. We are investigating because I told you that we have cases of illicit registration and we discovered that some of them created some scene when they discovered that their time for the exams clashed and they could not write the exam.

    “We are giving everybody the benefit of doubt. We will look at all the perimeters and ensure that no one whose case is actually genuine suffers injustice. When we finish our exams we will be able to look at the whole thing (biometric issues).”

    At some Computer Based Test (CBT) centres in Lagos, the biometric verification delayed the kickoff of the examination.

    However, many candidates said they experienced little or no problem with equipment failure for the examination which ended yesterday nationwide.

    At Bufuto Institute of Management and Information Technology, Egbe, a candidate, who simply called herself Uche, said her examination did not start by 9am as scheduled because of the slow verification process.

    Uche said: “We did not start on time because after the biometrics, we had to wait until everybody has settled down then we were drilled on the dos and don’ts of the examination. There was no computer failure in my centre.”

    Another candidate at the same centre, Amaka, who did her examination in the third batch (1.30pm), also said she experienced delayed verification.

    “I did my examination by 1:30 and finished after 4pm. There was no equipment failure although we did not start on time because the biometrics took longer. They drilled us on how to operate the system. We thumb printed out,” she said.

    At the two CBT centres at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), the examination went smoothly when The Nation visited.  There were no complaints about equipment failure.

    Mrs. Margaret Abe, Biometric Verification Officer for YABATECH Centre Two, said there were no issues.

    “We had 240 candidates of 250 for the 7-9a.m session; 242 for the 9.a.m session; and 241 for the 1.30pm session.  We had no issue with biometric; everything went smoothly,” she said.

    Biometric Verification Officer for YABATECH Centre One, Mrs. Adebimpe Adesua, also said most of the candidates in her centre showed up and had no issues with the verification.

    “For the first session we had 246 candidates; second session, 242 and third, we have 246. God will not allow us to have any problem with biometric verification.  It was part of my prayer point before coming that the candidates would not have problem with verification because if they cannot be verified effectively they cannot write the examination and that will be so sad,” she said.

    Some candidates in some other centres were not so lucky with their computers, as they had to contend with delays.

    Aisha Oseni, who wrote the exam at the Institute of Criminal Justice and Criminology Administration, Festac, said her centre experienced network failure on the first day of the examination.

    She said: “My jamb examination was for 1:30 that is the third batch. In my centre, some computers tripped off due to network failure, but were restored back and we thumb printed out.’’

    Samuel, another candidate, whose centre was at 11-30 event halls, Solebo junction, Ebute, Ikorodu, also experienced some set back.

    “The system was tripping off. It delayed my exam for about 20 minutes but thank God I wrote well,” he said.