Private Schools Extorting UTME Candidates, Mismanage Data — JAMB Registrar, Oloyede Alleges

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede, has accused some private secondary schools across the country of extortion and data mismanagement during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration process.

Oloyede, who spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, alleged that these private schools mishandle the candidates’ data, despite the requirement for each candidate to register individually using their own phone.

He emphasized that the UTME is not a school-based examination and urged candidates, including those with disabilities, to register at the designated centers.

“There are private secondary schools who are extorting the candidates, they will take 10,000, 20,000 and they say JAMB form whereas they pay just 6,000 or 7,000 as the case may be. They are mismanaging the data of the candidates,” Oloyede added.

The JAMB registrar further stated, “Every candidate is supposed to register with his or her own phone but these people are mixing their data together.

“Even one institution, Federal Government College Bwari wrote to us, ‘Can you give them (people with disabilities) special registration?’ It is not possible, we are not school-based. We register individual candidates who are going into the university, we are not registering cohorts.”

Last year, JAMB made an announcement regarding the establishment of 11 UTME centres exclusively designed for Persons With Disabilities.

The JAMB Registrar clarified that the primary objective behind the creation of these centres was to ensure equal opportunities for all candidates taking the UTME.

Recognizing the necessity for special consideration for individuals with disabilities, Oloyede took the initiative to establish these centres in collaboration with various individuals and organizations.

“The idea is that those who are suffering from physical disabilities require support. We find out that they need special attention and this special attention cannot be easily available in 774 centres across the country.

“So, what we therefore did was to create centres that are as close as possible to where they are coming from. We know that that is even a strain on them but to provide equal opportunity for them;

“What we have also done is to provide the wherewithal for them and their guide to the centre and we created these centres across the country so that the closer they are to the place of abode of these candidates the better,” the JAMB registrar had said.

Oloyede confirmed that the registration for the 2024 UTME started last week and will be closing in the next four weeks.