…Reels out exam fraud committed in 2017 UTME by CBT centres

From: Gabriel Dike

Registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Is-haq Oloyede on Wednesday read the riot act to Computer Based Test (CBT) operators nationwide to avoid malpractices on the forthcoming 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Prof Oloyede who gave the warning during a meeting at the Multipurpose Hall of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) with over 600 accredited CBT operators, said stiffer sanctions await any offender caught.

He used the occasion to reel out atrocities committed by the CBT operators during the 2017 UTME and cautioned that the board would not tolerate them in 2018 UTME.

JAMB boss informed the CBT operators that new measures have been introduced to checkmate the unwholesome practices noticed in the 2017 UTME.

He described CBT operator as critical partners in the registration and conduct of UTME but observed that about 90 per cent deserves condemnation for the act in 2017 which also resulted in the deleting of 72 operators for unwholesome practices.

Oloyede warned the CBT operators that they would be held culpable if any unwholesome practice is detected and urged to expose other operators who fail to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the UTME.

Said he: ‘’Assist the board to identify the bad eggs among you, so that they not soil our names and activities. There were many abuses in the 2017 UTME. Some CBT operators illegal collected N1, 000 per candidate, few were detected and their centres deleted.

‘’Two CBT operators in Ibadan and Ogun state were first time fraudsters. We arrested them and handed them over to the police for prosecution. We knew that some operators engaged in unwholesome practice.

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‘’One CBT operator at Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sublet his part to another centre and they perpetuated all sort of fraud, wanted to rape a female candidate. We will continue to identify them and deal with them. 72 were sanctioned, some banned and some suspended for a period.

‘’The sanctioned CBT operators will not participate in the 2018 UTME. One of the operators sanctioned moved outside his state (Abia) and took JAMB router to Maiduguri to register candidates. Some of you were not invited but found your way into the hall and some duplicated their numbers to get unfair advantage. Exam malpractice starts here.’’

According to him, the board have every reason to believe that some of the operators want to commit serious exam fraud in the 2018 UTME and informed the gathering that their moves are monitored from Abuja headquarters of JAMB.

Prof Oloyede cited another major incident during the 2017 UTME where an operator retained the phones numbers and e-mail of candidates and some even sent love letters to female candidates warning those using CBT to defraud and exhort money from candidates not to try it in 2018 exercise.

‘’CBT operators will not have the opportunity to perpetuate fraud. The board is prepared for operators in 2018 exercise. One of the operators in Bwari sold CD and one packaged 1981 questions and sold to candidates as current questions. Some CBT operators sold books and one operator at Mararaba was handed over to police,’’ Oloyede explained.

The JAMB registrar revealed that the board has introduced new measures to check unwholesome practices by the operators. He said all CCTV cameras must be wired (no more wireless), any UTME the board can not monitor in Abuja, such CBT operators will not be paid, makeshift exam centres will not be allowed.

Other stiffer measures are that all servers must be powered by Switch, provide toilet inside the exam hall, every 100 points must have dual screens, exam centres must open up to 10 points during registration, use of JAMB browsers and install electronic jamming to detect some devices used to aid exam fraud.

He warned that in 2018 UTME, candidates would not be allowed to enter the exam hall with pen, len, wristwatch, any computer witched off will attract sanction because operators download questions from such system, operators must provide 250 systems and 25 backup, only three accredited persons will be allowed into the hall and stoppage of opening of profile by candidates.

‘’We have learnt some lesson in last year UTME. As the CBT operators plan to commit fraud, the board also come up with measures to checkmate them. Before the end of this month, we will start the sales of UTME forms and no candidate is allowed to pay cash to CBT operators,” Prof. Oloyede stated.