THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has threatened to blacklist any Computer Based Centre, being used for the conduct of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, found to have colluded with candidates to commit examination fraud.
Over 57, 000 candidates on Saturday, sat for the week-long examination in 642 centres across the country.
JAMB Registrar and Chief Executive, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, who fielded questions from newsmen in Abuja shortly after monitoring the exercise in some examination centres, however, expressed satisfaction with the smooth conduct of the examination in many centres.
Tribune Online gathered that the examination started late in few centres including the Digital Bridge Institute centre, where the first session started at about 8 am, an hour behind schedule.
The examination was held under tight security provided by the combat-ready operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who were heavily armed to the teeth and stationed strategically in all the examination centres in Abuja.
Oloyede, said in spite of the general peaceful conduct of the examination, there was recorded disturbance in four of the examination centres were some “criminal elements” attempted to perpetuate examination fraud.
According to him, four centres were confronted with challenges caused by some individuals who were out to sabotage the process, but were closely being monitored to forestall further hitches.
He said: Out of the 642 centres, we have problem with four. We have two problems in Bauchi, one Kano, and Ekpoma. We gave three hours to put the centres in place. The problem was not from technology but from those who are cutting corners who failed to put the centres in pace. For criminal ingenuity of certain people, they did not know that we have put technology in place to detect all that.
“We had similar thing that happened in Uromi, last year, but I won’t tell you the detail because the cases are under investigation. Uromi was blacklisted last year and remains blacklisted. There are two or three centres doing similar this year as you have observed. Appropriate instructions have been given,” he said.
He disclosed that the examination could not hold early in Maiduguri as scheduled because of panic and militarisation of the University campus where the examination was to be held following the bomb explosion that occurred Friday night.
The JAMB boss also told newsmen that the Board in its wisdom cancelled the conduct of UTME in foreign centres where substantial resources were committed in past to conducting examination for few registered candidates to cut cost.
He said he was glad that there was no technological failure throughout the centres across the federation.
He said: “I have heard what is happening all over the country and we are pleased with what is happening. Technology is reliable; to have technology problem is an exception. What is normal is for technology to vey well and I think technology has worked properly.
“When the other time, it malfunctioned we did not like it. That was an accident. Now we are enjoying the value of technology and I must thank our partners, MTN and Artel for doing very beautiful job. I must also thank my colleague, Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provost who are all over the country participating in the monitoring exercise in the field.
“Everything is okay but there was a little disturbance in Uturu, Maiduguri because of what happened the previous night. We have to delay because panic and militarisation of the campus”.
While noting that the UTME would not hold on Sunday, the Registrar said that special preference was granted to candiadates who worship with the Seventhh Day Adventist, as they had been reassigned to write their examintions on Monday.
“The first day we are having a little above 57,000. we want to be skeletal today. We do not want to have the three sessions today, this is the first day and we expect that they will have some wiring problems because we know that most of the centres have been abandoned since last year but by Monday, we will start three full sessions.
“All the Seventh Day Adventists Centres do not have exams. Not only the centres, where somebody has indicated that he is a Seventh Day Adventist, we have shifted their examination to Monday.
“Apart from the centres owned by the Seventh Day Adventist, the organisation had written formally to us calling attention to those posted on Saturday and we have immediately reassigned them. There is no examination on Sunday”.
Some of the candidates who spoke with Tribune Online commended JAMB’s initiative of the Computer Based Test, CBT, saying “the examination was okay, it was not stressful, the computers worked perfectly”.
A candidate, Mimi Doo, however, said she could not finish her examination following lack of exposure to computer system before the examination. She said it was because of the UTME that she attended a computer coaching class.
“I went to learn Computer because of my JAMB exams and it was okay just that I couldnt finish my exams. I wish they can return back to paper and pencil,” she said.