By Felix Khanoba
No fewer than 40 operators of 38 Computers-Based Test (CBT) centres enlisted in the ongoing 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration exercise on Wednesday got more than what they bargained for when they were arrested at the headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja.
The CBT personnel from 11 states across the country were invited by JAMB to a meeting to explain their involvement in alleged cyber fraud, following a sting operation by the Board that uncovered their involvement in illegal registration activities.
The affected CBT officials, who had expected a dialogue to resolve the identified infractions, were however, surprised when the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, displayed scores of computers that were tracked and confiscated from their centres for illegal registration.
Oloyede provided opportunity to each of the CBT official to explain what they know about the illegal centres created to defraud candidates, with many claiming ignorance and others blaming their staff for the crime, a move that prompted the JAMB boss to surrender the suspects to Police for thorough investigation and prosecution.
“They extended their systems (computers) registered with JAMB to other places. They use it to defraud owners of CBT and create a lot of problems. And on the day of the exam, the candidates that registered in those places will have problem with biometric verification because it was done remotely,” Oloyode said.
While expressing concern that such candidates registered through illegal registration may not be able to sit for the exam unless the Board is able to come up with a remedy, the JAMB boss lamented that most of the CBT operators were also discovered of registering fictitious names and wrong National Identity Number (NIN) for their staff to cover up their tracks.
He called on parents to allow their children to follow due process by registering in only approved CBT centres.
The AUTHORITY reports that the CBT centres whose personnel were arrested during the meeting with JAMB are from 11 states in the country.
The states include Akwa Ibom -1, Anambra-8, Bayelsa-4, Nasarawa-5, Rivers-8, Lagos-2 and Delta-4.
Others states are Kwara-2, Oyo-1, Ondo-1 and Katsina-2.
