Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has accused some operators of Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres used for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of aiding examination malpractices.

According to JAMB, such operators, as a way of covering up their crime, tamper with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras mounted at their centres.

The registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, stated this yesterday during a meeting with CBT centre operators, technical advisors, service providers (MTN, Airtel, Galaxy Backbone) and other stakeholders in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Wednesday.

To this end, he said JAMB has resolved to collaborate with the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPRCN) to monitor the conduct of its forthcoming UTME at various centres across the country.

Oloyede said the collaboration with the computer council was to get them pay particular attention to CCTV cameras during the UTME to avoid them being tampered with.

According to him, the board was aware that some centres’ CCTVs were tampered with, in connivance with some of the board’s technical staff, to abet cheating during examination.

Though stamping out examination malpractices was a herculean task, he said, the board was poised to reduce sharp practices of any form in the UTME to the barest minimum.

He said he was optimistic that with the current effort by the board, prospective candidates who deserve to be admitted into any Nigerian tertiary institution would not be short-changed.

“CPRCN should help us to pay particular attention to CCTV.

“We are aware that some CBT centres are tampering with CCTV camera, in collaboration with our technical officers, which they would not have been able to do if our technical officers have not collaborated with them because it is in the server room,” he said.

Meanwhile, the JAMB boss has said the National Identification Number (NIN) would henceforth be a pre-condition for registration for UTME.

He said the campaign of calumny mounted against the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) was a deliberate effort to smear the image of the commission.

Noting that he was not speaking for the agency saddled with the responsibility to operate the country’s national identity management systems, Oloyede insisted that the commission was not corrupt, adding that JAMB would partner with it.

“We have brought in NIN as a condition for registering our candidates for this year. And we are collaborating with NIMC.

“With the current campaign against NIMC, I’m not saying they are not corrupt, but I could see a deliberate effort at running down NIMC, so that we can think of not collaborating with them.

“Those who are benefitting from registration and examination scandals, which is a big industry, are mounting campaign against NIMC,” he said. (The Guardian)

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