The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, says the Matriculation Board has introduced the use of the National Identity Number (NIN) as a pre-requisite for the registration of the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to checkmate examination malpractices.
Speaking to the owners of Computer Based Test Centers Service Providers and other stakeholders in Abuja, Oloyede warned at a virtual meeting to kickstart the 2021 UTME registration that no CBT is allowed to register candidates for NIN, adding that any centre found to engage in such act would be sanctioned.
Explaining that the reason for using NIN as a prerequisite for registration was for security reasons as directed by the Minister of Education.
However the decision of JAMB to link the JAMB registration to NIN will further complicate the process.
The experience of linking NIN to SIM cards has shown the chaos at the centres, the unprepared staff, inefficient mechanism in place and high level of exploitation going on there. Hence alot of extensions of deadlines, litigations and the pandemonium is witnessed at NIN registration centres. Therefore JAMB should not add to this scenario by adding its over two million prospective applicants to the list. Not even at a time like this when all efforts are geared toward flattening the Covid-19 curve.
Introducing the linking of the JAMB registration will be flouting the Covid-19 protocols.
The wise thing to do in the present circumstance is to pend this requirement until there is a seamless process of obtaining the national identity number