JAMB Explains Importance of NIN for UTME Registration, Others

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said the National Identification Number has improved its services, including exposing fake candidates who register for the United Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

The board’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, in a statement on Thursday, said JAMB’s partnership with the National Identity Management Commission “led to the inadvertent benefit of revealing the actual number of genuine candidates registered annually.”

“I wish to state that the board is pleased to be vindicated in its belief that the huge number of candidates applying for UTME every year could not be realistic, especially when viewed against the backdrop of WASSCE candidates, which is always around the figure recorded by the board this year.

“Actually, the board was pleased to note that the series of measures it had put in place to ascertain the veracity of its position that the true candidates’ strength should be about 1.5 million had yielded the desired results,” he added.

Benjamin noted that the exam body was not a revenue-generation entity, adding that it was not interested in the “ever-ballooning” number of candidates.

“Rather, it is concerned with how to address those loopholes being used by fraudsters to distort national data in their bid to compromise public examinations.

“As far as the board is concerned, having a realistic number of candidates writing its examinations is a major achievement that the partnership with NMC has made possible.

“Therefore, the board affirms its resolve not to compromise on the integrity of its processes on account of generating fat-operating surpluses,” he added.

PUNCH