JAMB pays N1bn to CBT centres, says official

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has paid about N1 billion to owners of Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide for their services for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the payment was in line with the agreement reached with the CBT centres.

Besides, he said it would promote and sustain a cordial working relationship with stakeholders that participate in the conduct of its annual examinations.

“We have just paid over N1 billion to all owners of CBT centres used in the conduct of our 2018 UTME.

“Centre owners that gave us quality service during our examination have all been commended for a job well done and we have reciprocated by effecting payments.

“However, we however discovered that some centres could not live up to their responsibilities as a result of some technical issues,” he told NAN.

According to him, candidates that are scheduled for the examination in such centres are relocated to new centres which will now be paid for their services.

Benjamin said it was only proper to promptly keep to agreements as and when due to ensure better collaborative efforts in quality service delivery.

He explained that any centre that was originally scheduled for the exam that eventually had technical issues would not be paid because the board could not afford to pay twice for the same purpose.

“In some others on watching the footage of the CCTV cameras at the centres after the examination, we discovered operators or owners of such centres colluded with some candidates to cheat.

“These categories of centre owners cannot be paid. Currently too, the board has embarked on a mop-up exercise for candidates with biometric issues and other related issues that was no fault of theirs during the conduct of the examination.

“Apart from the biometric issues, some candidates innocently found themselves in some centres that colluded with candidates to cheat in the examination.

“In such cases, it will be wrong to cancel the entire results of the candidates. All such innocent candidates will be singled out and be given the opportunity of re-taking the exam.

“As a responsive organisation, we will continue to ensure that every candidate is given a right to access higher education,” Benjamin said.

The JAMB spokesman promised that the board would continue to deploy cutting edge technology in the conduct of its examinations in a bid to protect the integrity of its tests.