More than 80 percent of the 98,232 candidates eligible for Saturday’s nationwide mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination failed to appear, a development the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board attributed to intensified security measures targeting impersonators and exam cheats.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who monitored the exercise at the Technology CBT Centre in NAF Valley Estate, Abuja, told journalists that turnout was alarmingly low, with only about 12 per cent of registered candidates showing up across the country.
Oloyede noted that mop-up exams are typically organised for a few thousand candidates with legitimate reasons such as illness or verified technical issues to miss the main UTME.
“Every year, we do mop-up. And it is normally for about 4,000, 5,000 students. Who for illness, for genuine excuse, could not take the exam. Or who, after review, we saw had technical problems in their centers. This is normally for about 4,000, 5,000. Every year, we do that,” he said.
He explained that this year’s large mop-up pool was necessitated by allegations of widespread absences in the main examination, saying the Board opted to give everyone a second chance—while also leveraging intelligence gathered from security agencies.
“In the wisdom of the management and our stakeholders, we felt everybody (who missed the exam) should be given opportunity. Whether for whatever reason that you did not make it. But again, we also knew that we are wiser.
“Given the work that we have done in conjunction with the SSS and the police. We have been able to get some intelligence, some information that we could use. To really apprehend those who are impersonating in particular.
So we now felt that it’s better to keep the door open as wide as possible. At least to apprehend (impersonators)……And then you can see that the performance (turnout) throughout the country is far, far below what you would expect. Those who even indicated coming out of the 90,000, there are about 12,000 plus. Who eventually, who indicated that they were coming,” he said.
He added that some CBT centres expecting 250 candidates per session recorded fewer than 20 attendees, which he said was anticipated.
“Because what you have is a bunch of syndicates. Particularly those who say they are tutorial centers. They are some private school proprietors who have become syndicates of examination malpractice,” Oloyede said, adding that with the determination of the Ministry of Education to lead this war, exam malpractice would be reduced to the barest minimum.
The JAMB boss also disclosed that some individuals attempted to cheat by falsely declaring themselves as albino in a bid to exploit facial recognition vulnerabilities.
“We have never had even up to 100 albinos any year. But this year, you have 1,787 albinos. Those who declared to be albino, 1,787.
“So, out of 2 million. And we now found out that one centre registered 450 out of this 1,000. As if all albinos in Africa decided to go to that centre
“Why are they sourcing a number of albinos? They are not not albinos. It is because the AI that they were using had certain features. That if they do not declare themselves as albino in our form, you will look critically more.
“Because it makes it reddish. The colour. So, when one of those arrested or one of those in custody now gave information that, look, I will tell you. This is the first step towards it.