By KUNI TYESSI

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has refuted rumours making the rounds that the Board is recruiting invigilators for its forthcoming 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Board said the rumours are being peddled by criminal elements also requesting the payment of acceptance fee of N5,000 payable to the syndicate.

It said the Board is not recruiting any invigilator or any official in that capacity for that matter and has warned the general public to be wary of anybody purporting to be acting on its behalf.

The Board however urged the general public not to fall prey to the antics of the fraudulent elements as the Board has not authorized any person or group of persons to act on its behalf for any business including recruitment.

It added that it will appreciate if such persons are reported to security agencies to ensure that the society is cleansed of unwholesome characters and cheats.

The statement read: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been drawn to the activities of criminal elements who claim to be recruiting invigilators on behalf of the Board for the 2021 UTME/DE while also requesting the payment of acceptance fee of N5,000 payable to the syndicate.

“The Board wishes to state unequivocally that it is not recruiting any invigilator or any official in that capacity for that matter. In fact, it should be noted that even the term ‘invigilator’ is alien to the Board’s operations and advises the general public to be wary of anybody purporting to be acting on its behalf.

“The Board also wishes to reiterate that if for any reason the Board wishes to recruit permanent or ad hoc staff such as invigilators or any other officials, it has in place a transparent and foolproof process for doing so.”

In the same vein, two suspects were on Friday, apprehended by the police over their alleged involvement in impersonation during the 2021 UTME registration.

The suspects identified as 50-year-old Sesan Obasa and his alleged accomplice, Salvation Terhembe, were arrested and paraded before newsmen at the headquarters of JAMB in Bwari, Abuja.

Terhembe was picked up by staff of JAMB at one of the board’s registration centres in Bwari, following his unsuccessful attempts to carry out the UTME registration on behalf of Obasa.

The 36-year-old had appeared before a JAMB registration official on Thursday and could have successfully scaled the first accreditation when the picture on the National Identification Number (NIN) showed he was impersonating Obasa.

Terhembe, who admitted to carrying out the act, said he was contacted by Obasa to supply his information for registration at the JAMB centre because he was busy with work, adding however that he was only assisting him and not aware that his actions breached any rule of JAMB.

Speaking in defence of his actions, Obasa, who had applied to study public administration, said he was misled by his determination to go to school, which resulted in his desperation to put in for JAMB this year.

He admitted that Terhembe carried out UTME registration on his behalf, and pleaded for leniency as he was completely unaware that his actions were tantamount to identity fraud.

JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who lauded the efficacy of NIN in checkmating Identity fraud, said but not for the use of NIN, the impersonator would have successfully carried out his registration.

Oloyede, who was visibly miffed by the activities of the duo, said they were “fraudsters,” vowing to hand them over to the police.

“You can see the advantages of NIN; by the time we put this boy to test, you would see that he had done registration in previous years for other people but because of NIN, we were able to uncover this,” he said.

JAMB had been inundated with multiple registration in the previous years, necessitating a policy by the board for the compulsory use of NIN in the 2021 UTME registration. (THISDAY)

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