CBT CENTRES: JAMB silent on promised prosecution of delisted centres as it restates justification, 5 months after

While prosecution of delisted CBT centres remain pending despite earlier assurances, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has restated its justification for delisting about 72 designated CBT centres for alleged perpetration of various acts of misconduct during the 2017 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examinations held across the country.

Recall that in June, the examinations body had announced that of the 600 CBT centres that participated in the 2017 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examinations in the country, 72 were found culpable in various breaches leading to the suspension of 24 and the delisting of 48.

At the time, Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, had promised that all affected centres would be duly prosecuted.

Ripples Nigeria had then embarked on an extensive investigative mission to uncover the true state of things at the affected centres and the surrounding facts.

But in October, about three months after the promised prosecution, JAMB had given the excuse that it was not a prosecuting agency in response to enquiries over the delay.

Read also: DELISTED CENTRES: Despite pledge of prosecution, JAMB passes the buck, 3 months after

On Wednesday Oloyede restated the body’s decision at a meeting with CBT owners and operators from the 36 states in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said JAMB decided to delist the centres after it discovered that the operators extorted money from some candidates and engaged in other grievous actions, including attempted rape in a particular case, during last year’s examination.

He said, “Some centres collected the sum of N1,000 from each candidate as entrance fee, while a worker in a particular centre attempted to rape a female candidate. We have delisted 72 of such fraudulent centres and banned some for life.

“We are dealing with the perpetrators at individual levels, such that they cannot even abandon the delisted centres to set up a new one in another name. We have sent their names to the Corporate Affairs Commission.”

The registrar noted that about 90 per cent of failures recorded in the 2017 UTME was due to the “recklessness of some CBT owners,” adding that they would be held culpable if they failed to expose the bad eggs among them.
Oloyede also revealed that JAMB generated over N100m from errors committed by candidates while filling their application forms in 2017.

To put an end to this, he added, the management had resolved that henceforth, all codes cannot be corrected after candidates have submitted their forms.

“Yes, we are looking for money, but we are not looking for filthy money,” he said.

 

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