A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Foundation for Civic Education, Human Rights and Development Advancement (FoCEHr aDA) has berated the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) for alleged poor conduct of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
It stated that the examination body had “not shown good faith and professional competence in the conduct and management of entrance examinations into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.”
“We don’t understand why in an examination not conducted by, or any input made by the candidates, the examination body which screens candidates, nominates and gives centers, dates, venues and timetables to candidates, would seize results of candidates, and claim that such results are “under investigation”, it added.
In a statement made available to Businessday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital and signed by its executive director, Clifford Thomas, a lawyer, the group, stated that it had “become an offence to score very high in examinations conducted by JAMB.
“Nigerian candidates writing JAMB have become so good that they cover the syllabus, prepare very well for the examinations. Where there is no power failure, breakdown of the computers or other technical glitches, candidates in Nigeria, are fully prepared for the examinations.”
According to the statement, it would amount to crass irresponsibility for JAMB to begin to question centres that it cleared, also have its agents on the ground at the centres, for purposes of transparency and efficiency, if it could seize results of candidates for whatever reason.
” There must be proof of irregularities before punitive measures are imposed upon the guilty, ” it stated
He called on JAMB to release all the results forthwith, unconditionally, adding that it should show that it had not failed in its duties.
According to him, candidates who write these examinations are seeking admission into Nigerian public tertiary institutions, explaining that to deny them admission is to show lack confidence in our public educational institutions?
It stated that ‘there is no law in Nigeria which forbids candidates less than 18 years of age from writing JAMB’s entrance examinations.
“It amounts to an illegality, unconstitutional and a violation of the social (educational) rights of candidates to also seize their results because they are less than 18 years”, it concluded.
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