JAMB Officials Extort Students, Charge Extra for Mock UTME

The officials of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) that were deployed to Electronic Hall at Campus 3, Delta State University, Abraka, had allegedly charged students extra N700 each before they were allowed to write the 2019 mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that was scheduled to hold today across the country.

Some parents of the JAMB Students, who complained bitterly to CITIZENS COURT over the alleged extortion, said no prior notification on the payment of the N700, which became the access fee for the Mock UTME at Abraka, was given to students. Hence, the insist that fee is not  suspicious and illegal, but amounts to extortion on the part of the officials. They called on the management of JAMB to investigate the issue and bring the perpetrators to book.

"When we arrived this morning for the Mock UTME, we were shocked that the JAMB Officials in charge of the Electronic Hall 1 & 2 in Campus 3, Abraka, are collecting N700 each from the students before they are granted access to write the exams. We were not informed about this extra payment neither are we informed of the purpose of payment, so it is highly suspicious. The Officials are extorting money from us and it ought not to be. This is an abuse of office and public trust. The integrity of JAMB that is being built under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is now being traded for parochial gain. This issue should be investigated by the authorities in charge", one of the parents stated.

CITIZENS COURT also learnt that due to the extra charges, some of the students were denied the opportunity of writing the Mock Exam, which was designed to familiarise them with the process, because they were not carrying extra money except their transport fair back home.

"There are about 200 students designated to write this Mock exam at this centre and there is going to be another section after this. I believe the JAMB Officials deployed to this Centre are taking advantage of the situation to illegally extorting the students for their selfish and narrow interests. Otherwise, there would have been a prior notice on the payment of the money. Of all the 200 students that are to write the Mock Exam, none has information regarding this payment until now. Some of the students, who do not have extra money to pay for the fee are returning home", another parent lamented.

The mock exam is being conducted primarily to test run facilities at the various accredited centres nationwide, and also to familiarise the  candidates with the process ahead of the main JAMB examination that comes up on the 11th April, 2019.

Over 1.8 million candidates had registered for the 2019 UTME. Of the number, 157,631 candidates have been scheduled by JAMB to sit for the optional examination in accredited Computer Based Centres (CBT) across the country.