2019 UTME credible, remarkable – JAMB board chairman

Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe, Chairman, Governing Board, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has described the process and the conduct of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as credible.

Ndukwe’s appraisal was contained in the board’s weekly bulletin (Vol. 1, No 26) made available to our reporter on Sunday in Abuja.

He adjudged the exercise as the best in terms of administration and the level of technology deployed, even as he commended the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede and his management team for delivering ‘credible and world-class assessment’.

The board chairman said that the delay in the release of results was deliberate, saying that it was meant to ensure that candidates involved in examination malpractices did not parade illicit results.

“The 2019 UTME was a remarkable exercise.

“I moved round to monitor the registration exercise across selected centres in the country with view to making sure that the policy of the Federal Government for creating access and equal opportunity to all candidates was not subverted.

Ndukwe also said that the tour round the computer-based test (CBT) centres was to ensure strict compliance with the government’s directives on the reduction of application and registration fees.

While describing the tour as rewarding and revealing, he said it afforded the examination body to take drastic measures against erring centres.

He added that the close monitoring and supervision by the board had exposed criminal syndicates who were involved in multiple registrations and other forms of infractions.

This, he explained, resulted in the delay in the release of results, adding that the thorough investigations carried out by the board led to the apprehension, prosecution and conviction of some of the criminals, to serve as deterrent to others.

The chairman also expressed satisfaction with the board’s complete change from analogue to digital and sophisticated regimen.

He said he was elated at the management of both human and material resources by the board, noting that JAMB had, in the last three years, remitted over N20 billion to the Federal Government coffers.

Ndukwe said that the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) of the examination was a beautiful innovation that had been automated to help in the admission process.

He advised heads of tertiary institutions to ask pertinent questions, where necessary, on pending admissions awaiting approval.

The chairman assured that the registrar would continue to monitor the entire process to ensure that the system was not compromised in anyway.