The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has said that the 2019 general elections would not affect the board’s 2019/2020 examination.
He made this remark while fielding questions from journalists shortly after delivering the 2018 Annual Sobo Sowemimo Lecture of the Abeokuta Club in Abeokuta.
Oloyede said that since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had given the dates of the elections, then the board would only need to adjust accordingly.
“I don’t think there will be any need for a shift in the examination date because of the 2019 general elections. I believe INEC has done well by giving us a prior notice six months ago.
“They have given us the date of the elections. So we have no excuse not to have adjusted. We have adjusted appropriately,” he said.
Oloyede decried the rate at which candidates, who were not qualified to write the examination applied for it, thereby, causing what he described as “unnecessary luggage” on the board.
He said that the examination body would adopt stiffer measures to check incidences of unqualified candidates from applying and writing the examination for the 2019/2020 admission exercise.
Oloyede noted that JAMB would not allow anyone to take undue advantage over others, saying the board would not repeat the mistake it recorded in the last examination as regards this development.
The JAMB registrar said the body would begin the 2019/2020 examination process by October, promising that the procedure for the next examination would be better than the last one.
“We are on with the 2018/2019 admission exercise. This, we started just about a month ago. We believe that by the end of October, we would then begin the 2019/2020 admission.
“I can assure you that we are fine-tuning and learning from our mistakes last year. We are perfecting the processes and procedures, ensuring that no one is allowed to have undue advantage over the others.
Oloyede, who did not disclose the exact number of the applicants expected for the 2019 exercise, said measures had been put in place to ensure that all applicants are minimally qualified.
“It is difficult to say the exact number of applicants we are expecting this time. We expect to crash the number because many of those who are taking the forms are not even prepared or qualified for the exam.
“Some are SS1 students, who are just trying; contributing N5, 000 unduly to our purse. We are putting in place some checks to make people who want to apply to be minimally qualified.
“That’s where we are moving to, rather than creating unrealistic figures. We cannot say actually this is the figure but we are trying to ensure that we don’t have unnecessary luggage.
“We are not interested in the money. We are interested in having adequate preparation for those who are genuine students,” he added.
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has said that it has set up 624 centres for the over 1.7million candidates that will be writing this Saturday’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) nationwide.
The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stated this on Tuesday while speaking to journalists in Abuja about the board’s preparation for the exams.
Oloyede also disclosed that 321 blind candidates would participate.
He added that efforts had been made to curtail examination fraud, as Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, will be mounted in all the various centres and adequate security arrangement will be provided.
Oloyede, however, noted that many candidates and parents have not recovered from what he described as “technophobia”, the fear of technology, as they still think that the Computer-Based Testing (CBT) method make things difficult.
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has clarified that cut-off points are not set by the body.
The exams will begin on Saturday May 13, 2017.
He explained that a policy committee chaired by the Minister of Education, with the Board, Vice-Chancellors, Provosts of Colleges of Education and Polytechnic Rectors as members, is saddled with the task.
The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said this at the news briefing on Tuesday in Bwari, in preparation for the conduct of this year’s UTME.
He described cut-off points to be a minimum requirement and not an indication that one was admissible.
The JAMB boss reiterated the Board’s resolve to prepare more after learning all the lessons from its past to organize for a successful examination.
“Following the continuous determination to curb the incidence of examination malpractice and other related offences, we will use the Biometric Verification Machine to verify candidates before admitting them for exam”, he said.
He added that JAMB registered a total of 1, 736, 571 candidates for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede also gave a breakdown of duly registered candidates for the 2017 UTME.
“In the last UTME conducted in 2016, a total of 1, 272, 284 candidates registered for the 2015.
“The figure for the 2017 UTME shows an increase of 464, 287 applicants when compared with last year’s figure of 1, 272, 284,” Oloyede said.
He disclosed that Imo state had the highest applications having 101, 868, this was followed by Osun, Oyo, and Ogun with 88, 655, 87, 811 and 81, 349, respectively among the top ten.
Others include, Delta – 81, 108, Anambra – 77, 253, Kaduna – 72, 104, Kano – 70, 276, Kogi – 70, 150 and Benue – 68, 916.
The Registrar/Chief Executive of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has stated that some powerful forces are plotting to frustrate his efforts ahead of the forthcoming Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
He made this known during a workshop to train its officials ahead of the UTME exams on Wednesday.
He however made it clear that the board would not return to status quo and that he was ready to step on toes to make things work the way he wants it.
“People are bent on creating problems where none exists. I believe their toes are very big and I don’t mind stepping on them.
“We believe that at the end of the day, Nigerians will know the truth and who to appreciate and who to condemn.
“So I expect all other stakeholders involved in the system not to sabotage the efforts of JAMB but reciprocate such gesture and goodwill so that we could give Nigerians the best of services they deserve,” Oloyede said.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
