2021 UTME: How NIN aids in preventing several malpractices – JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has commended the introduction of the National Identification Number (NIN) in its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) exercise.

JAMB disclosed that it assisted in preventing impersonation, multiple registrations and other malpractices connected with examinations.

Spokesperson of the Board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Benjamin stated that the collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which made NIN compulsory in the registration process, made it almost difficult for hired examination takers to register multiple times.

The spokesman also disproved a media report that claimed that the introduction of NIN affected JAMB revenue and caused it to drop to N5.8 billion.

Benjamin stated that JAMB was neither a revenue generation agency, nor aimed to be one.

He said, “JAMB is not a revenue generation entity and, as such, isn’t interested in the ever-ballooning number of candidates.

“Rather, JAMB is concerned with how to address loopholes being used by fraudsters to distort national data in a bid to compromise public examinations.

“As far as the board is concerned, having a realistic number of candidates sitting for its examination is a major achievement which only the partnership with NIMC has made possible.

“It is our resolve not to ever compromise on the integrity of its processes on account of generating fat operating surpluses.”

Benjamin added that NIN was a good initiative as it had assisted with cleaning the system and reinstated its integrity.

As indicated by him, it is anything but a blunder of reality to belittle the wonderful contribution of NIN to the UTME registration process by implying that it had negative effect on the financial base of the board.

He said, “On the contrary, JAMB greatly appreciates the partnership with NIMC, which has led to the inadvertent benefit of revealing the actual number of candidates registered annually.

“Consequently, it is the board’s firm belief that the introduction of NIN has helped in addressing one of the fundamental channels of perpetrating examination malpractice by way of multiple applications, among others.”