- JAMB will fully automate its services to reduce physical interactions with applicants and combat extortion.
- The new policy will limit in-person interactions and use recorded online communications for monitoring and quality control.
- JAMB faces legal challenges over alleged misconduct, including a N100 million lawsuit and accusations of inappropriate conduct by staff.
In a bid to curb extortion and improve service delivery, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced plans to fully automate its services, significantly reducing physical interactions with applicants.
This decision, highlighted by JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede, aims to address issues arising from the fact that many candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are underage.
The board's new policy will involve limiting in-person interactions, and transitioning instead to online communication with recorded calls for better monitoring and quality control. Prof. Oloyede emphasized that this shift is crucial for mitigating alleged extortion and exploitation, as the board has received numerous reports of such practices.
In a recent bulletin, JAMB highlighted that a team has been deployed to investigate these reports and promised to disclose the findings to the public. Prof. Oloyede urged students and parents to provide credible evidence of extortion or misconduct by JAMB officials or Computer-Based Test (CBT) centers, assuring that any staff found guilty would face legal consequences.
This move follows legal challenges faced by JAMB. In March, businesswoman Mrs. Ifeanyi Eke filed a N100 million lawsuit against JAMB and three other defendants over alleged unsolicited and inappropriate text messages sent to her 15-year-old daughter. The suit, filed in the Federal High Court in Lagos, also names Island Computer College Limited and two individuals as co-defendants.
Earlier in January, JAMB had arrested several registration officers from a CBT center in response to complaints from a mother about inappropriate communication with her daughter on social media.
Oloyede praised the majority of JAMB staff for their integrity and diligence, asserting that over 99 per cent of the board’s employees are honest. He reassured the public that any staff involved in unethical practices would be identified and dealt with accordingly.
Only students aged 18 and above to sit for WAEC, NECO from 2025, Nigerian government restates
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman said underage students would no longer be permitted to sit for secondary school leaving certificates such as West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO).
Tahir Mamman declared that from 2025 onward, only individuals aged 18 and above will be eligible to take these exams, adding that the policy had been longstanding and was not a new measure he had introduced.
