THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned financial institutions participating in the sale of its application documents against extortion of candidates.
The board stated that only financial institutions that registered with the board are allowed to vend its e-PINS and must adhere strictly to the terms of engagement.
JAMB registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, at an interactive session with financial institutions in Abuja, noted that all participating vendors/tellers had indicated interest and registered with the board for ease of identification and recordkeeping.
The sale of the 2023 UTME application documents commenced on Saturday, January 14th, 2023 and will end on Tuesday 14th February, 2023, barring any change of mind by the board to extend the closing date.
While thanking the financial institutions for their support to the board over the years, he said that their timely and priceless ideas and suggestions had helped the board to drastically reduce the financial burden of its transactions and transformed the financial processes to such that it is attuned to modern dictates.
Professor Oloyede admonished vendors to be upright in their dealings with the aspiring UTME/DE candidates so as not to run afoul of its extant rules of engagement.
He said that in the past, payment for Mock-UTME was made to the CBT centres on the day of the examination. However, it was observed that most candidates who had indicated interest to sit the mock ended up not showing up for the examination, resulting in waste of manpower and material resources.
He disclosed that it was this development that made the board to impose a fee of N1000 payable at the point of registration by candidates interested in taking the Mock-UTME to ensure their commitment.
While rolling out the rates, the registrar warned against any form of extortion and untoward acts that could jeopardise the noble aspirations of the board in rendering seamless services to prospective candidates desirous of further education.
He reminded all financial institutions that they would be held accountable for the actions of their sub-agents and, as such, are to ensure that credible members of staff are deployed to man their operations.
He said candidates had the options of paying through banks, Mobile Money Operators and could make online payment on the JAMB portal through Remita/interswitch), among others.
The registrar, while explaining the seamless payment process, said each candidate must have obtained the National Identification Number (NIN) as that is the gateway to the registration because the candidates would first create a profile by sending their NIN, followed by a space, then the eleven-digit number (NIN) to 55019 or 66019.
He stressed that all transactions at the examination centres would be cashless to prevent warehousing and extortion of candidates.
He disclosed that all payments to centres shall be collected by the board and remitted to the centres on a weekly basis.
The JAMB registrar further explained that the cell phone number used for sending the NIN to 55019 is automatically tied to the candidate’s name supplied by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and would be used in all communications related to the candidate’s application and examination.
According to him, after sending a message to 55019, candidates will receive on their phones a 10-digit profile code and the registered name with NIMC, which would be presented at the point of procurement of e-PINS (banks, USSD, sales outlets, vendors etc.). Afterwards, the e-PIN would be sent as a text message to candidates after the payment of all necessary fees.
He added that the candidate would present the e-PIN at any JAMB-accredited CBT centre for registration.
The board had approved a total of 600 Computer Based Test (examination) centres out of the over 800 that applied while promising to ensure hitch-free conduct of the examination.
Oloyede, also speaking at a meeting in Lagos, with all commissioners of education, promised to tackle most of the challenges recorded during the conduct of the past examinations.
Oloyede said the meeting briefed the commissioners on JAMB’s level of preparedness and sought their support and revealed that the establishment of world-class Computer Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide has come to stay.
“We showed them the result of the 2023 centre accreditation for the conduct of the examination. A total of 600 centres have been approved, out of the over 800 that applied,” the Registrar said.
The figure was 140 less than the total number used for the exercise in 2022. Due to this, a sharp drop would be expected in the number of personnel that would be engaged.
