JAMB’s registrar vows to expose exam malpractice

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), has vowed to expose candidates caught in fraudulent acts during the board’s examination.

Oloyede, who was speaking in Bwari on Friday, said that more than 10 candidates had written to the board to complain that their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.

He said that the candidates complained that their results were compromised, and demanded a review or restitution.

The registrar, who said that the board would stop at nothing to expose candidates involved in fraudulent activities, noted that the act had “continued to eat deep into the system’’.

“Fraudsters have continued to be at the heart of examination malpractice in this sector but I assure you things are not being done like in the past again; we are in the days of technology.

“We have imbedded into our systems materials that help us expose everything as it is.

“When allegations come like this, we ask for evidences from candidates and it is this same evidence we use to expose all the communication and transactions between JAMB and the candidates.

“What most of them do not know is that we have all records of our transactions with them. We are always ahead of them and we will not relent but continue to tackle them,’’ he said.

Oloyede said that a candidate had, through his lawyer, threatened to sue JAMB N1 billion for sending him a fake UTME result.

He said that the candidate, accompanied by his father, alleged that he had written the UTME three times and his results were compromised.

The registrar, however, said that details of communication for 2021 UTME between the candidate and the board through the candidate’s “Query Portal’’ from a telecom provider, proved otherwise.

He said: “Every text message sent by JAMB through any of the telecom providers has its signature on every message sent to the candidate.

“You can see that the only score recorded for this particular candidate is 265 and no any history of 380 or any other figure as alleged.

“We are also able to see results request, response, dates and time, all on the portal. So, if it is not from us, we would definitely find out.

“The message he show us stating his score was 380 has no JAMB signature. These are some of the strategies we have put in place to curb these form of illicit acts,’’ the registrar said.

Oloyede said that the matter had been handed over to the police for further investigation.

According to him, the result of the candidate and any other candidate involved will be temporarily withdrawn until investigation is concluded and justice prevails.

Earlier, the candidate explained that he first wrote the UTME in 2019 and applied for Medicine.

He said when he requested for his result through the board’s 55019 code, he received reply stating that his score was 328 and later received 278 from the portal.

“I did not get admission in the school of my choice.

He said he sat for the examination again in 2020, received a score of 343 and later, a different score of 306 was sent to him and he was unable to get admission.

The candidate said he changed his course to Engineering, and sat for the examination in 2021, but got no result when he requested for it.

He said that after two failed attempts, his result was later sent to him with a score of 380, adding that during print out from the portal, his result read 265.