The Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Is-haq Oloyede has said the board is not considering an extension of registration for the 2023 registration of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) over the Naira redesign.

The board had announced in December 2022 that UTME registration would commence on Saturday, 14 January 2023, and end Tuesday, 14th February 2023.

Meanwhile, Oloyede during inspections of Computer Based Tests centers in Osogbo, Osun State, on Friday declared that the Naira redesign and its withdrawal policy would not force the board to shift the deadline of February 14th, 2023 for registration.

He explained, “We are not considering any extension of the registration deadline because anybody who is withdrawing money is the one not following our instructions. You transfer money, when you do that, you get the pin, we are not selling physical pins.

“We also negotiate with CBN for E-wallet and the E-wallet is interacting with all the agencies, you don’t need to touch money to buy or procure the pin, it is not an excuse at all because we are E-compliant.”

This is just as the registrar warned impostors to stay clear from activities of the board because checks have been put in place to tackle the malpractices.

According to him, “I go round the country to monitor the registration exercise and particularly call the attention of those committing infractions, we receive reports about what is going on in the state, we have intelligence on the ground, so when we have information we now go to such places.

“We have deployed both human and technological means of detecting violations, you can see that the issue of no signal is not happening this year, so what we are doing is improving what we did last year and that is why we are available in every part of the country to monitor strict compliance with the regulation.”

JAMB inspects UTME registration centres, apprehend 6 suspects in Kano

In another development, JAMB has also apprehended six operators of Computer Based Test (CBT) centres in Kano State over alleged fraudulent registration of candidates for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The suspects used their fingerprints for the biometrics of the candidates they registered.

“Their intention is to sit for the examination on behalf of the candidates,” Oloyede said.

The registrar explained that examination malpractice starts at the point of registration, which is why the board is inspecting JAMB centers to nip it in the bud.

Oloyede, who inspected several UTME registration centers in Kano asked the affected centers to bring the suspects to Abuja on Monday, January 6 for prosecution, adding that failure to do so, the centers would be canceled.

“They will be handed to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for prosecution,” he said.

According to the registrar, any centre that fails to bring the suspects to Abuja would be closed.

He advised candidates not to allow CTB operators to use their fingerprints for their (candidates’) biometrics, “otherwise they would also be apprehended as accomplices.”

He urged UTME candidates to report any suspicion, adding that the cost of registration is N5,700, while candidates writing a mock will pay N6,700 only.

The JAMB registration centres visited by Prof. Oloyede, who was accompanied by journalists, included: the JAMB state office, Federal College of Education, Trez Tech, Ruby and Butale Info Tech Ltd among others.

He said that the operators had compromised the registration process , and JAMB would not condone any infringement on its registration by the technical officials of any of its accredited centres.

Over 500,000 candidates have so far registered for the 2023 UTME, he said.

“JAMB’s target this year was 1.8 million candidates. So far, 500,000 have registered. Registration will close on February 14 and we don’t intend to extend the deadline,” the JAMB registrar said. (The Nation)

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