JAMB has declared that it will no longer administer mop-up tests for UTME candidates who have not been biometrically certified.
Yesterday, this was published in the weekly bulletin of the Office of the Registrar in Abuja.
The move was made to tighten the noose around examination fraud, according to the statement: “The board has concluded that the era in which certain candidates may claim difficulty in being biometrically verified and expect the system to allow them to sit for the examination is over for good.”
It will be recalled that the board, in its kindness, allowed such candidates to be rescheduled for the 2017 mop-up UTME. However, after studying the process and its influence on the entire examination value chain, the board has realized the futility of such a system.
There will be no more mop-up UTMEs for any reason, thus all applicants must be validated in order to appear for their examination.
“In order to accommodate the rare individuals who may have genuine situations of incapacity to be captured, such candidates must specify their challenges when registering.”
“This is so that they can be assigned to a monitoring center within the board’s national headquarters.”
The bulletin indicated that this measure was taken not only to improve the examination process, but also to safeguard the board’s well-earned reputation.
JAMB claimed that the decision was the outcome of a thorough evaluation of the 2022 UTME process by management, with the need to address all flaws identified during the examination.
“Examination malpractice has remained one of the greatest difficulties facing all public examination bodies around the world, mandating that they take frequent measures to combat it.”
“No UTME applicant will be permitted to take the exam unless they have been biometrically validated.” All ten fingers of the candidate must be photographed at the time of registration.
“To combat the potential of examination fraud, the board has made extensive use of technology, including the biometric capturing of a candidate’s ten fingers upon UTME registration,”
This is to ensure that the fingerprints taken and those provided by the candidate at the testing site match.
The board ruled that any circumstance other than those described above should prompt an investigation into a security breach.