SOME parents of intending applicants for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination have commended the decision of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to suspend the use of National Identity Number for 2020 UTME registration.
The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), also said the suspension was a welcome development in view of the number of Nigerians that would have been prevented from realising their ambition of furthering their education by the enforcement of the NIN policy.
Mr Jonathan Amande, a civil servant who said he conveyed two of his children around some of the NIMC enrollment centres in Mararaba, Nasarawa state to some city centres in Abuja on Thursday in vain, noted that the experience was bad.
He called on the Federal Government to release adequate fund to the commission so as to expand their enrollment centres across the country in order to make the exercise seamless.
Amande said he was not against the use of NIN for UTME registration but insisted that the right thing must be done by providing the necessary facilities and equipment for the exercise before coming up with such a policy that would have a far-reaching implication on the people.
Mrs Margret Ibezem, a social worker in Abuja, said even though one of the children preparing to register for the UTME had succeeded in obtaining the NIN, she noted that the decision to suspend the use of NIN was in a right direction.
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Also, the Public Relations Officer of NANS, Comrade Adeyemi Azeez, told Tribune Online on the telephone in Abuja, that the suspension of the use of NIN for UTME registration was a welcome development.
He said NANS had since last year discovered that some NIMC personnel were capitalising on the rush to extort the applicants.
Azeez said this led to a protest carried out by the students’ body against NIMC in Ogun State last year, saying the suspension would give ample time for those who want to sit for JAMB in 2021 to obtain the NIN ahead of time.
He said: “This is a welcome development and a good one at saving the applicants of untold hardship a lot of them have been going through because NIMC officers have turned it to a means of extortion.
“Some of these students are being subjected to some fees or payment in order to get express attention in their offices. Some of them were asked to buy fuel for generators before they are enrolled.
“NANS led a protest last year in Ogun against these unwholesome practices. We got a report that the NIMC staff were extorting them.
“JAMB should also reiterate that those intending to sit for UTME next year should get the NIN ahead of the time; use of NIN is a welcome development in checkmating those who are far deep into examination malpractices,” he said.
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