Goldmine called JAMB

Just recently candidates seeking admission into Nigerian univerisities sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).  TADE MAKINDE, MATTHEW ASABOR and SHEHU BELLO write that billions of naira moved round in the course of registering and sitting for the exam, noting that a huge chunk of the money was illegal , Lagos.

EARLY this month, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and owners of extra-mural centres declared that the body made N8.5 billion from the sale of forms for this year’s UTME. However that may just be the official figures. A lot more of the money might have gone into other people’s pockets due to some extra money collected from prospective candidates.

Indeed, the conduct of the examination has become a minting machine for some individuals; from some dubious officials of JAMB to owners of extra-coaching centres who employ clever methods to make money from the candidates.

From Abia to Zamfara states, many heap blames on officials of the examination agency, who allegedly milked innocent, but desperate candidates who wanted to gain admission to higher institutions of learning in the country.

From Sunday Tribune’s findings, apart from the reported and approved N5,500 that each candidate was required to pay, proxies, using study and special centres as covers, creamed off cash from between N7000 to N50,000 per candidate, especially those desperate to pass the exam.

Seun Akinsola registered and sat for English Language, Government, Economics and Literature-in-English at Open University Abeokuta, Ogun State.  He bought the form for N5,500 from a commercial bank and registered at CBT Centre, Igbore, Abeokuta. For him “the process was free without any extra charge.”

Miss Rachael Oluwole who sat for English Language, Mathematics, Physics and Biology at Moshood Abiola Polytchnic, Ojere, Abeokuta, Ogun State, bought her form for N7,500 from a cafe and also registered there had to travel to a CBT Centre in Abeokuta for thumb printing. To her it was stress-free excercise.

Like the aforementioned Miss Justina Tolufase was lucky. She also spent N7,500 in all.

Aishat Abdulaziz, a resident of Okene, Kogi State was not that lucky. She spent N10,000 for the whole excercise.

“You know in the whole of Ebira land, it was only one centre you could register and not many banks were doing the JAMB registration in this place. So some of us had to go Lokoja while I did my registration in Aika. I paid N5,000 to the bank for registration, while for the online profile registration and materials collected from JAMB, I spent another N5,000,” she said.

Tobi Ibrahim, who registered in Lagos claimed he spent N7,000 for the whole registration. “The first thing is to go bank, where one will pay N5,000 and will be given a pin which is what will be used for the registration, and later to JAMB office for the collection of materials. In all I spent N7000 for the whole registration.”

Seventeen-year-old Adeola said she paid N10,000 for JAMB form, despite JAMB Registrar’s statement that nowhere in the country were the forms sold above N5,500.

The young lady, who attended a special center at Soka area in Ibadan, told Sunday Tribune that she was not given any receipt for the monies paid and the threat of outright cancellation of her application cowed her from asking what should have been duly given as evidence of payment.

“We bought the form at a CBT Centre and went there later to thumb-print. When it was two days to the exam, a Thursday, my centre had not been communicated to me. They said we would receive it on our phones. I became anxious and immediately went to Eleyele where I was asked to pay N200 for a reprint. I was posted to the University of Ibadan CBT Centre.

“They only told us that they paid N6,500 at the Bodija JAMB office, a thousand naira above what we were asked to pay. How the rest of the money was expended was not explained to us,” she said.

Another candidate, Chukwuemeka’s case was a bit different. He paid in the N5,500 into a bank account and got the teller. When he took the teller to the JAMB office at Bodija, he was asked to pay N1,000 for server and another N700 for his examination centre. When asked why he had to pay JAMB a server fee, he was told that the office server was down and if he wanted to find out his centre that day, he should pay or get out of the office.

“My mother paid the N1,700, but we were shocked when we were told that they didn’t issue a receipt for this service. Not long after, a printout stating that my exam center was in Ile Ife, Osun State was handed over to me. At Ile-Ife, I paid another N2,000 to know the exact school where I was to sit for the exams, but not until after my mother had spent money on our accommodation at an hotel. My mother told me she never went through all this when she sat for JAMB exams 23 years ago. She grumbled all through our journey back to Ibadan on Sunday. An examination that cost less than N170 back then had wiped her savings in the last five months,” he complained.

Another girl, who doesn’t want her names in print, told Sunday Tribune that she, and several others paid one Uncle Jerry N8,500 to buy the form. He bought the form at the Eleyele School of Nursing, Ibadan at N7,200. They said it was N5,500 for the form and N700 for a novel that we were forced to buy. Many of us had already bought the same book long before, but we were made to buy it again because we needed it for English Language. Nobody has explained to us why we had to pay N8,500 for what was N6,200. But there was nothing we could do. We didn’t know who to report to. Most of us just wanted to get it over with and gain admission to a university,” she said.

Paying more for coaching

For many months preparatory to the JAMB examinations, many candidates registered at some schools for special lessons on how to pass the exams. Most paid N4,000 monthly for the lesson. Not only did they pay for may they were asked to pay another N4,000 for the month of June. Many didn’t want to pay since they would not be coming for any special lesson again, but their teachers insisted that they must pay up before the exams or “we would not be told where we would sit for the exams,” she lamented. They had to paid, grudgingly.

No pay, no cheat

A particular candidate watched as a supervisor helped a candidate to cheat during the exams. Another candidates saw much more.

“They said there were CCTV cameras hidden all over. That was not true. A supervisor provided a candidate next to me with a phone, which was against the rules of JAMB exams. Those careless to be caught with phones had 100 immediately deducted from the marks,” he told Sunday Tribune.

Another candidate, Omolade Abiodun, who was posted to Lagos said that at the private school where she sat for the exams in Isolo, with some of the faces she used to see at a special center in Ibadan, many candidates were allowed to cheat, while others were closely monitored.

“A lady, few seats away from me was provided answers by a supervisor who stood next to her. She was just smilling as she ticked the answers. In under an hour, the lady had finished the entire examination. One of the guys I knew back in Ibadan later told me that those ‘special’ students had paid N25,000 for JAMB; N12,500 for their exam center and N6,000 for transport to Lagos. I was told some others paid as much as N200,000 for answers to be provided by some invigilators.