The Computer-Based Test Centres Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria have blasted the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for the alleged irregularities that trailed the conduct of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Its President Maxwell Akwuruoha addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja on the development.
He said: “Biometric enrolment, as secured registration medium for UTME and Direct Entry candidates, started in 2011 with the introduction of electronic testing, actively in 2013 and absolutely in 2015. It has been that the introduction of technology as electronic testing saved huge costs, initially meant for printing question papers, syllabus, brochure and logistics for delivery of same.
“It has been that only N600 is paid to centres for each candidate that sits for the examination. It has also been that JAMB applies a fire-brigade approach during accreditation, especially with ad hoc workers who are not trained.
“It does not kill anybody to apologise that the biometric system actually failed. We had candidates that were prevented from writing the exam because of biometric failures from JAMB…”
JAMB’s Head of Information, Fabian Benjamin, dismissed the allegations as “cheap blackmail”.
He said: “It is quite unfortunate that a group of people, who claim to be our partners and who daily clamour for an increase in what we pay them, will resort to blackmail. One, our biometric verification did not fail. We conducted biometric verification for about two million candidates. Let me assume, without conceding, that 2,000 candidates could not be verified, what is the percentage of 2000 in two million?
“Every candidate that registered properly was verified. So, for any candidate who was not verified, it is not as a result of biometric failure. Some of them registered in centres that were not approved and some of them did multiple registrations and they were therefore blocked…”