Hot SourceKuniTyessi in Abuja
More than 80 per cent of the 98,232 candidates eligible for yesterday’s nationwide mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) failed to appear, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. IshaqOloyede, has said.
Oloyede attributed it to the intensified security measures targeting impersonators and exam cheats.
Oloyede, who monitored the exercise at the Technology CBT Centre in NAF Valley Estate, Abuja, also told journalists that parents found financing examination malpractice schemes for their children would soon face investigation and possible prosecution.
He declared that turnout for the mop-up examination was alarmingly low, with only about 12 per cent of registered candidates showing up across the country.
Oloyede noted that mop-up exams are typically organised for candidates who missed the main UTME due to legitimate reasons such as illness or verified technical issues.
“Every year, we do mop-up. And it is normally for about 4,000, 5,000 students, who, for illness, for a genuine excuse, could not take the exam. Or who, after review, we saw had technical problems in their centres. This is normally for about 4,000, 5,000. Every year, we do that,” he explained.
He stated that this year’s large mop-up pool was necessitated by allegations of widespread absence of candidates in the main examination, saying the Board opted to give everyone a second chance, while also leveraging intelligence gathered from security agencies.
“In the wisdom of the management and our stakeholders, we felt everybody (who missed the exam) should be given an opportunity, whether for whatever reason that you did not make it. But again, we also knew that we were wiser.
“Given the work that we have done in conjunction with the SSS and the police, we have been able to get some intelligence, some information that we could use, to apprehend those who are impersonating, in particular.
“So, we now felt that it’s better to keep the door open as wide as possible, at least, to apprehend impersonators. And then you can see that the performance (turnout) throughout the country is far below what you would expect. Those who even indicated coming out of the 90,000, there are about 12,000 plus. Who eventually indicated that they were coming,” he said.
He added that some CBT centres expecting 250 candidates per session recorded fewer than 20 attendees, which he said was anticipated because what you have is a bunch of syndicates, particularly those who say they are tutorial centres. Some private school proprietors have become syndicates of examination malpractice,” Oloyede said.
He added that with the determination of the Ministry of Education to lead this war, exam malpractice would be reduced to the barest minimum.
The JAMB boss also disclosed that some individuals attempted to cheat by falsely declaring themselves as albino in a bid to exploit facial recognition vulnerabilities.
“We have never had even up to 100 albinos in any year. But this year, you have 1,787 albinos. Those who declared themselves to be albino were 1,787.
“And we now found out that one centre registered 450 out of this 1,000, as if all albinos in Africa decided to go to that centre.
“Why are they sourcing some albinos? They are not albinos. It is because the AI that they were using had certain features. If they do not declare themselves as albino in our form, you will look more critically because it makes the colour reddish. So, when one of those arrested or one of those in custody now gave information that, look, I will tell you. This is the first step towards it.
“So, we now go after all those who claimed to be albino. And we found out that all the albinos are less than 250.
“You can see the black man arrested (in Benin City) claiming to be an albino. How do you become albino? But that is one of their strategies.
The registrar emphasized that suspected impersonators who failed to take the exam after alleging exclusion from the main UTME would not escape accountability.
“They registered with their name. They have schools. They have NINs.
“They had their phone number. The security agencies are capable of picking them. And indeed, a number of them are already picked up,” he said.
Oloyede also hinted that parents found financing examination malpractice schemes for their children would soon face investigation and possible prosecution.
