2025 UTME: JAMB vows to sanction 11 CBT centres over alleged irregularities

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to impose severe sanctions on 11 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres and their registrants involved in fingerprint irregularities during registration for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this shortly after a brainstorming session with key stakeholders, following a meeting with the affected CBT centres and registrants on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, the recommended sanctions would require the approval of the Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, noting that the action was intended to protect the integrity of the examination process.

“The leadership of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board with some critical stakeholders here recommends as follows: That any registrant who has registered more than 50 candidates (with infractions) should be dismissed from participating in any activities of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

“And what that means is that such a person will not participate in any UTME exercise, will not be registered for the UTME even as a student, and will not be allowed to participate in any of the sister examinations, be it WAEC, NECO, or NABTEB, and this is to be for three years.

“The suspension is to stay for three years. After three years, the Board will revisit it and look at the issue. If the registrant has shown any remorse, such a suspension could be lifted.

“And others who have registered fewer than 50 will be warned and required to write a letter of apology to the Board after issuing a bond, indicating that they will not be involved in such a thing again.

“Then for CBT centres, all CBT centres involved are to be warned and then asked to sign a bond. And besides the bond, they will also be required to give evidence of training of their registrants.

“And that training should be anchored by any of the federal universities within their vicinity. That training should be anchored by the appropriate department of the university within their vicinity,” Oloyede said through JAMB’s Public Communication Adviser, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who read out the recommendations.

Throwing more light on the recommendations, Oloyede said the Board would not entertain any infraction from the affected centres in the future despite their claims of ignorance, hence the need for them to undergo necessary training in federal universities closest to them before they can be re-engaged by JAMB.

“We will not allow any of these centres to do anything with us until they bring a certificate, a letter from a federal institution closest to that centre that their staff had been trained on ethical standards…

“But for the centres that are owned by the federal government, the reports will be made to the authorities that this is what your agency did,” Oloyede said.

Earlier, most of the affected registrants and some CBT operators who confessed to engaging in candidates’ finger contribution during the registration process attributed the act to ignorance or the desire to get more people registered in their centres, with many breaking down in tears and pleading for leniency.

One of the stakeholders at the meeting and former Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the actions of the affected registrants warranted prosecution and possible jail terms, but appealed to JAMB to forgive them and make them sign undertakings not to engage in such infractions in the future.

Earlier, an official of Jicoras CBT Centre, Bashir Gumel, said the centre had already commenced an internal probe into the involvement of its registrants, saying the outcome would be forwarded to JAMB.

“We have summoned all of them to come here and we have heard what they have done. And they have confessed to that. To retain the integrity of our institution, this will not go unpunished. They have to be punished.

“And we promise that the action that will be taken will be shared with the JAMB office. And in that regard, again, our centre is not an established centre. We are in a catchment area where there are very few CBT centres…

“Because this is our first time, and we were not aware of such occurrences, we promise that this will never occur again,” Gumel said.

The affected CBT centres that were invited for the meeting are Misau Emirate ICT Centre, Misau, Bauchi State; Ijaw National Academy, Kiama, Bayelsa State; Directorate of ICT, Nigerian Army University, Biu, Gombe State; Emerald IT Academy Limited, Benin City, Edo State; Tigh Technologies, Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja; Jicoras CBT Centre, Babura, Jigawa State; and Huntsville Technology Limited, Anthony, Lagos State.

Others are Jolas College CBT Centre, Obalende, Lagos; Abdul Ocean Weath CBT Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State; National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Wase, Plateau State; and the Consulate Salle D’Examen CBT Centre, By Jonny Lane/Navy Barrack Agip Estate, Rivers State.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE