Due to alleged extortion, JAMB has taken over the collection of registration fees from CBT centers

From 2022, JAMB will collect the N700 registration fee for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, also known as the UTME.

In a weekly bulletin issued in Abuja on Monday, it stated that it would collect the approved N700 registration fee at the point of registration and remit it to the various approved centers.

“From the 2022 UTME exercise onwards, JAMB will collect the approved N700 registration fee on behalf of the various Computer-Based Test, CBT, centers in addition to its UTME registration fees.”

“The board will then remit whatever is owed to each registration center to its bank account on a weekly basis or at any time the center owners deem appropriate.”

“This commendable step was inspired by a thorough examination of the entire UTME registration process, which revealed some unethical and unacceptable practices by many CBT centers.”

“It should be noted that these centers were only permitted to collect N700 as registration fees, but some unscrupulous center owners took advantage of the opportunity to engage in conduct unbecoming of respectable establishments.”

“During the exercise, they engage in massive extortion of candidates,” the board stated.

It also stated that it was forced to make the UTME registration process cashless in order to prevent extortion.

It went on to say that the new procedure would not raise the cost of UTME registration in any way.

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“Only the method of payment has changed; the price has not.”

“Under the new policy, candidates can register without paying a fee at any registration center.”

“The fee previously due to the center would have been paid in conjunction with the cost of obtaining the e-PINS,” it stated.

Meanwhile, the board announced that it had decided to create the “A/Level Task Team” and the “A/Level Qualification and Verification Databank” (ALQVD).

It was explained that the initiatives would act as monitoring bodies and repositories for verified A/Level qualifications, respectively.

It stated that the measure, along with others already in place, was taken to ensure that the gains made in the education sector were not eroded.

“This comes as a result of revelations made during a recent professional operation conducted by the ICPC in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education.

“These revelations come from a recent ICPC statement about irregularities at the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board” (JUPEB).

“The faking of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) examination results has raised concerns among major stakeholders.

“As a result, the board, as the moderator of the two examinations, must take appropriate action to put an end to the unacceptable events.”

“Only six genuine results were found when one tertiary institution had cause to verify the IJMBE results of more than 146 candidates admitted with IJMB certificates,” JAMB lamented.

It also stated that, beginning with the 2022 UTME, it had added Computer Studies and Physical Health Education to the existing 23 UTME subjects, bringing the total number of UTME subjects to 25.