2018 UTME: JAMB Pays Accredited Computer-Based Test centers N1bn

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Sunday, May 13th, 2018

LAGOS, NIGERIA AFRICAN EXAMINER – The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Sunday announced that it has paid about N1 billion to owners of the accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centers nationwide for their services during the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

JAMB Head, Media and Information Unit, Dr. Fabian Benjamin who made the disclosure during interview, indicated that the payment was in line with the agreement reached with the centers.

He stated that the measure would promote and sustain a cordial working relationship with stakeholders that participated in the conduct of its annual examinations.

“Centre owners that gave us quality service during our examination have all been commended for a job well done and we have reciprocated by effecting payments.

“However, we however discovered that some centres could not live up to their responsibilities as a result of some technical issues,” the JAMB Spokesman.

According to him, candidates scheduled for the examination in such centres are relocated to new centres which will now be paid for their services.

Benjamin said it was only proper to promptly keep to agreements as and when due, so as to ensure better collaborative efforts in quality service delivery.

He explained that any centre that was originally scheduled for the exam but eventually had technical issues would not be paid because the board could not afford to pay twice for the same purpose.

“In some others on watching the footage of the CCTV cameras at the centres after the examination, we discovered operators or owners of such centres colluded with some candidates to cheat.

“These categories of centre owners cannot be paid. Currently too, the board has embarked on a mop-up exercise for candidates with biometric issues and other related issues that was no fault of theirs during the conduct of the examination.

“Apart from the biometric issues, some candidates innocently found themselves in some centres that colluded with candidates to cheat in the examination.

“In such cases, it will be wrong to cancel the entire results of the candidates. All such innocent candidates will be singled out and be given the opportunity of re-taking the exam.

“As a responsive organization, we will continue to ensure that every candidate is given a right to access higher education,” Benjamin said.

He promised that the board would continue to deploy cutting edge technology in the conduct of its examinations in a bid to protect the integrity of its tests.

It would be recalled that this year’s JAMB UMTE held between Friday, March 9 and Friday, March i6. About 1.6m candidates wrote the examination/NAN