ANNOUNCEMENT!! JAMB Reveals New Method Of Registration

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says starting from 2020, candidates will register for its examinations with their National Identity Management Number (NIM) to solve the challenges of multiple registration.

Dr. Fabian Benjamin, Head of Media of the board made this known at a one-day capacity building workshop organised by the National Examination Council (NECO) for education correspondents in Keffi, Nasarawa on Friday.

Benjamin, who spoke on the topic: “Understanding Reporting in the 21st Century”, said the development would be facilitated through partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

According to him, experience has shown that malpractice in the conduct of public examination, especially the UTME, actually begins with the registration exercise.

“Four days ago, we cancelled results of four candidates because of examination malpractices we discovered after the examination.

“The board is on top of the situation as it has the determination and technology in place to forestall attempts at compromising the registration process.

“An intrinsic part of the strategies adopted by the board is ensuring that its registration period is kept very short.”

He said that the registration of candidates would now take 30 days instead of a longer period to contain the chances of fraudsters’ strategies to circumvent the process.

Benjamin also appealed to parents to desist from encouraging their children to commit examination malpractices.

On biometric challenges, he said the board had planned to ensure that by 2020 the issues of biometric problems in the course of registration would be over.

“In 2018, we have about 24,490 biometric challenges but we have been able to bring this down to 22 in 2019; but if we are able to stand on our ground by 2020, we will not have any biometric challenges,” he said.

He added that no Computer Based Test (CBT) centre would be used for the conduct of its examinations except those centre whose administrators were the owners of the CBT centres.

Speaking on the challenges of impersonations in examination, Benjamin said multiple registrations, if not checked, was an easy way to impersonate a candidate.

He noted that the board, in conforming to international best practices, would take care of people with special needs through the ICT capacity building and empowerment programme.

JAMB approves 160 as cut-off mark for admission into universities

The authorities of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday approved 160 as a minimum cut-off mark for candidates seeking admission into public universities in Nigeria.

This is the outcome of JAMB’s 19th policy meeting on admissions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria held at Bola Babalakin auditorium, Gbongan, Osun State.

The meeting, which was attended by Vice Chancellors, Rectors of Polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education also approved 140 for private universities, while 120 was fixed as a cut-off mark for public polytechnic and 110 for private polytechnic.

Similarly, 100 and above was approved for colleges of education.

Making these disclosures during the meeting, the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede said plans were underway to conduct an open examination for students seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Describing the development as a new innovation for 2019 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination, (UTME), he contended that it was aimed at curbing examination malpractice, explaining that the board would provide one million questions for each subject out of which 50 would be answered for the examination.

Oloyede, however, expressed concern over the increasing number of applicants, seeking to study Medicine in universities, saying 436,799 candidates applied for the course during the last UTME against available space for 35,923 candidates.

Earlier in his remark, chairman, governing the board of JAMB, Dr. Emmanuel, said the board was striving to provide a unique standard that will be acceptable by students and parents.

The director of Tertiary Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Joel Ojo Samuel, who spoke on behalf of the permanent secretary of the ministry charged the board to be sensitive, transparent and sincere in the consideration of students cut-off mark.

He stated that “accountability and transparency have made it possible for JAMB to, directly and indirectly, support other Institutions and agencies in the education sector. It is gladdening that NECO has taken a cue with its unprecedented remittance of over a billion naira recently.”

“The board should go further by ensuring the prosecution of all culprits and suspects of these nefarious and criminal activities in order to serve as a deterrent to those planning for a future exercise, and to also send a very strong and clear signal to those that have entrenched themselves in these acts of criminality.”

“It is disheartening that there are still many reports of unethical behaviours on our campuses, especially those relating to the abuse of trust and confidence reposed in staff of tertiary institutions”, Samuel remarked.

15-Year-Old Teenager Who Scored 347 In JAMB Reveals His Secret (Photo)

15-year-old Ekene Franklin Ezeunala, who scored 347 to emerge the overall best in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) targeted 370 out of a possible 400 has revealed what helped him achieve the feat.

According to TheNation, the SS3 pupil of Meiran Community Secondary School, Meiran, on the outskirts of Lagos, is, however, happy with his mark.

He said yesterday that he was shocked to be announced the candidate with the highest score.

Ekene told The Nation: “I tried to make a good score while preparing for the examination. The score I was targeting was 370. I still feel happy that I still achieved a good result.”

The teenager, who will turn 15 May 27, said: “When I first heard I was the highest, I was a bit shocked. But I became glad and happy.”

He attributed his feat to regular participation in competitions oragnised by of Lagos State government.

“The competitions impacted positively on my preparation. Some of the subjects I did I had done them in preparing for the competitions and met the same thing in the exams,” he said.

Ekene wants to study Chemical Engineering in the university – for the love of it and to impact the society. He said he was already working on some bio-fuel research to reduce carbon emissions in Nigeria.

“I want to study Chemical Engineering because I feel that chemistry and technology can impact the general public and society in various ways; and personally, I have a flair for chemistry,” he said.

His mother, Mrs. Chinelo Ezeunala, a Chemistry teacher at Hightree College, a private school at Berger, Lagos, said she was happy about her son’s feat.

The Chemistry graduate said her son had always shown brilliance in his education and as a result skipped some classes in primary school.

“He started school early at two years plus because I was serving when I had him. He attended Philthel Primary School, Akoka. The school was owned by a professor teaching at the University of Lagos. But the woman is late now.

“In primary school he was very bright so he was promoted twice that was why he is 14 years in SS3,” she said.

Mrs Ezeunala learnt of a scholarship offer by Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, from this reporter.

When asked if she would allow the boy to go, she said it would be discussed as a family. She said the family was not buoyant enough to afford private university fees if the offer was not a full scholarship. She said her husband was a retired staff of the defunct NITEL where he worked as a technician and had experienced hard luck in his efforts at running businesses.

She said: “We are not really well off and we cannot afford private university fees. If it is full scholarship, my opinion is ‘why not?’

The Uturu, Okigwe, Abia-based varsity, awarded scholarship to Ekene and Emmanuel Chidiebube 16, who scored 346.