Some parents and guardians in Plateau State have described as “very exorbitant,” the N1,500 they were being charged by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for scratch card to access the examination result.
Speaking to journalists in Jos, Pakshin and other towns in the state, parents accused the examination body of extorting money from students and parents with all manners of charges.
“The charges are strange. Last year, we used the JAMB registration number to check the scores. We were not expecting something different this year,” Mr Gotong Nanman, a parent told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Pankshin.
He said he was very surprised when his niece brought the request to him, and alleged that JAMB was not sensitive to the harsh realities facing poor Nigerians.
Nanman recalled that he spent N5,000 to purchase the JAMB form, and another N1,500 was a huge burden, especially since there was a mass failure this year.
Another parent, Mr. Danjuma Dumak, argued that JAMB was making billions of naira since more than one million candidates sat for the university admission test.
He therefore urged the federal government to intervene to save poor people from such pains since many parents had consistently registered for the examinations in the last five years.
“The National Assembly should also ask JAMB to explain what is happening. They (lawmakers) represent us and should intervene in this matter,” he said.
JAMB’s Head of Public Relations, Mr. Fabian Benjamin, however said in his reaction, that the complaining parents were doing that out of ignorance.
“Many of them are not aware of the activities of the board; we are trying so hard to reduce the cost of this examination.
“If we are to charge according to the services we render, each candidate will pay nothing less than N10, 000 but government has consistently subsidised the services and that is why the registration form costs only N4,000.”
He rejected suggestions that JAMB was making profit from the admission process, saying that it was usually a tedious route from the registration to the point of admission to admit a qualified candidate.
Benjamin claimed that the scratch card had diverse uses, pointing out that its cost was not enough to cover its services.
“All universities, colleges of education and polytechnics are involved in the entire process and each of them is entitled to a certain percentage,” he said.
According to him, “what the board realises is used to pay people that set the questions, those that mark the scripts, and those that enter them into the master system.
“The process cannot be said to be completed until we reach the point of admission to the candidates; this demands a lot of funds.
“You also remember that from May 17 to May 29, we shall conduct computer examination for prison inmates in Lagos and Katsina as part of our rehabilitation programmes. Just try to imagine how much that will cost,” he said.
There is no gainsaying that we are doomed in this country. we only need God’s intervention. The Jamb registrar and his cohort are lying to us all in this nation. It is true that the lawmakers MUST intervene in Jamb-conducted examination (UTME). This examination is so wasteful of the Nigerian youth talent that if nothing is done, this country will suffer greater consequences than it is already experiencing – best minds in Nigeria are traveling abroad yearly to study draining Nigeria of her rightful homegrown talent.
I believe that the board intentionally tamper with UTME result every year releasing result with mass failure so that the number of students to sit for the exam would increase year-in year-out. Any time JAMB releases result, one wonders if Nigerian students are that dumb considering the standard of questions answered.
I am a living witness to this scam. I have written JAMB more than twice scoring 232, 245 and 180 respective. I am graduate of one of the federal universities in Nigeria ( in fact the best in Nigeria in 2011). I graduated from the college of health sciences and an amiable result. I only want to pursue my dream course that is why I’m writing JAMB all . So this question of incompetence does not come to play here. I even teach students from my undergraduate days. I am yet to find an explanation to the woeful result I keep getting from JAMB every year.
A fly on the wall told me that JAMB have noticed the massive malpractice that transpire in there in their exam every year hence always slash down the marks of unsuspecting students to serve as punishment for the malpractice. That is crazy. Why should we surfer for JAMB’s incompetence?! If they cannot hold credible exam, free of malpractice, let them scrap the board so that young and brilliant Nigerian students can go to university. I am also a victim of this injustice. How can some heartless cabals in JAMB hold millions of youths of this country at ransom just because of their own selfish gains? They sit there to decide and allocate useless scores to poor Nigerian students yearly. If they are that confident about the results they release, let them set up result verification centre in their offices nationwide not some doctored and shabby panel they set up in Abuja.
I am sanguine that very soon, if this is not nipped in the bud, frustrated Nigerian student would start taking to violence. God bless this great country and punish those denting the image.
Thank you for that comprehensive and evaluating comment Abayomi. I am nt directly affected, bt there are many candidates who studied very hard (day and night). This manipulation will lead to more bad than good, because even if u studied hard , the result wil nt encourage u. I can never accept what jamb is giving as a result until. They are busy making money and frustrating the poor Nigerian students.