By FUNMILAYO ADEYEMI

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cautioned the public against spreading the falsehood that it assigns candidates to examination centres outside their chosen towns.

This was contained in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Saturday by the Board?s Spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin.

Benjamin stated that JAMB recognises the importance of convenience for candidates and ensures they sit for their examinations in locations of their choice among available CBT centres.

According to him, every candidate has the prerogative to choose their examination town, and JAMB assigns them to a centre within that town.

?It is our firm belief that some parents are continually being deceived, misled, and defrauded by their wards and some secondary school proprietors who perpetuate this falsehood.

?Let it be unequivocally clear: at the time of registration, candidates have the right to select their preferred examination town. JAMB subsequently assigns them to a centre within the selected town.

?The baseless claim that candidates are posted to towns different from their choices is erroneous, malicious, and aimed solely at tarnishing the Board?s reputation. It does not happen.

?The Board therefore challenges this false yet popular narrative by offering a handsome financial reward to anyone who can provide authentic proof of even one candidate who has been posted outside their chosen town,? he said.

Benjamin added that, to ensure transparency and to avoid ?being a judge in one?s own case?, such proof should, within the next 96 hours, be sent to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) WhatsApp number: 08056003030.

According to him, this process will ensure that an independent body can confirm the evidence, deliver the reward if appropriate, or exonerate the Board once and for all from the recurring campaign of calumny.

?Anyone who finds no fault in airlines requesting air travellers to arrive at the airport two hours before departure should equally find no fault in encouraging candidates to arrive at CBT centres 90 minutes before the commencement of examinations for preliminary verification.

?Many parents who expect candidates to spend no more than two hours for a two-hour examination are evidently unaware of the necessary preliminary processes,? he added.

Benjamin appealed to the public to grant agencies the benefit of the doubt and to trust that they exist to serve the public interest in the best possible manner.

He maintained that JAMB remains committed to the public good at all times.

?On a lighter note, another example of gullibility was demonstrated by a female UTME candidate who refused to attempt any questions during her examination this morning. This was because she was complying with her grandfather?s instruction to do nothing and wait for miraculous intervention,? he explained.

He advised candidates against harbouring superstitious and baseless dreams of reaping where they have not sown. (NAN)

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