News
JAMB Arrests Father For Impersonating Son At Exam Centre
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that two suspects, a father and his son, were arrested for their alleged involvement in impersonation during the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
This was just as the Board added that no fewer than 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 examinations across the country.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this known to newsmen shortly after monitoring the exam at the Kaduna State University CBT Centre, Kaduna, last Wednesday.
The JAMB boss refrained from disclosing the identities of the parent and their child, as well as the location of the reported malpractice.
He said, “For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay.
“The technology is helping us to check that.
“Across the country, most of the problems we have is impersonation. For instance, now, we say we have NIN, we now have cases of people with two NINs and therefore that has defeated the purpose of identity verification.
“We are going to take that up with NIMC that there are people who have two NINs.
“We have a case of a father impersonating his son, writing an examination for the son and I wonder, are you not destroying your son’s future?
“Of course, two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will now tell his son when they are both locked up in the same cell.
“This happened definitely not in Kaduna, but I don’t want to disclose the state.
“So, it is largely cases of impersonation, but we are ahead of them; we are just picking them up like chicken now because the facilities are there for us to see what they are doing and to pick them up.”
He noted that at the end of the examination yesterday, there would be less than 100,000 candidates remaining in Lagos, Benue and other states in the country.
He added that JAMB’s improved technology made the exercise smoother and faster.
“Today, I have seen something which we need to improve on, but most importantly, we have done so many things in the background to make the exercise faster, more efficient and better. We have increased the level of automation.
“This year, 1.94 million candidates are writing UTME. By the end of today, we would have less than 100,000 remaining.
“By the end of today, what will be remaining will be Lagos, Makurdi and other few places in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the JAMB Registrar also commended parents for their behaviour during the conduct of the 2024 UTME exercise, noting that there was no parent intrusion, unlike the previous year when some parents flocked to the various computer-based centres during the exams.
“There is no report this year of parents intruding, except in one state. In that state, they felt that since the first session failed, their children should not continue with the second or other sessions,” he noted.
Oloyede also used the opportunity to inform those who have missed the exam, for reasons not caused by the examination body, to forget about it, saying that JAMB cannot spend tens of millions of the nation’s resources to reorganise a session for a few candidates who missed the exams due to their personal recklessness.
“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB.
“They would now put 30 students in one bus. They will now be dropping them off in different locations. By the time they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam.
“You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?”, he asked.
Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, has received 119 stolen artefacts from the Netherlands.
The Oba who disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin, the Edo State capital, said plans by some international cartel to re-loot the artefacts were thwarted after he prayed to God and the ancestors.
He said, “I thank President Bola Tinubu for supporting and committing to the efforts former President Buhari put in place to ensure the artifacts are not re-looted because there were groups in this country believed to be an international cartel that had all sorts of conspiracy to re-loot our artifacts.
“They stole and burnt our Kingdom. They killed my people and tried to kill their spirit and their morale. Today, the boldness, courage, and bravery of the Benin people are still there. Events of 1897 reduced that to a significant level that Sometimes when I see my people, they are afraid of the unknown.
“The return of these objects has reawakened the courage we had in our people. We do not want modern-day politics and partisan politics to diminish the courage of our people.
“The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments has been doing wonderful work. His predecessor was part of the conspiracy to re-loot our artefacts. We had a running battle in this hall.
“I addressed my Chiefs in Benin language, and I said these artefacts belong to my ancestors, and I will not sit on the ancient throne and watch the artefacts re-looted. They would rather remain where they are than be re-looted. I thank the government of the Netherlands for working with us. This is part of the efforts to reawaken the morale and spirit of my people.
“After 1897, the kingdom was reduced. There was a government in this state that wanted to reduce the kingdom more and scatter it. I am angry when I speak about it. Why would anybody want to scatter the kingdom.
“The youths were courageous like the youths of those days. They were not afraid of anybody. I vowed that it would not happen. Not in my reign. Not while I am sitting on this throne. God heard my prayers. My ancestors heard my prayers. This throne is not partisan, but I should support what is good for my people.
“I urge the youths to be tough and strong in the face of adversity. This is not for anybody else. It is for my ancestors.”
The Benin Monarch further prayed for the return of more artefacts.
The NCMM DG, Olugbile Holloway, said the commission and the Benin Royal Palace were working hard to ensure more artefacts were returned.
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, who was represented by the Secretary to State Government, Barr. Musa Ikhilor said his administration would continue to build necessary infrastructure to preserve the returned artefacts as well as collaborate with the Federal Government to improve the storage system for the artefacts.
The General Director of the Wereld Museum, Marieke Van Bommel, said, “The artefacts are looted, and we have a policy in the Netherlands to bring them back. We are bringing back 119 artefacts. We don’t have more. These are the collections in the Netherlands. There are more collections in Europe, but that is not up to us. They have been with us for over 100 years.”
The Nigeria Education Loan Fund said its Student Loan Application System has now been fully digitised to streamline and accelerate the student loan processing experience for institutions and applicants.
“With this upgrade, all accredited institutions are now required to request access to SLAS to verify and upload student data related to loan applications. This is a critical step that ensures the timely processing and disbursement of approved student loans,” NELFUND said in a statement by its Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
The Fund also said that institutions that have not yet onboarded the system are kindly requested to send an access request to registration@nelf.gov.ng without delay.
He said once granted access, institutions will be able to view a real-time dashboard of their students’ loan applications, verify submitted data, and track the status of each application.
“We urge all institutions to take immediate action in the interest of their students, as verification and data upload by the institutions are mandatory steps before final approval and disbursement can be completed,” the statement said.
The implementation of the student loan scheme is President Bola Tinubu’s flagship project in the education sector.
Barely a month after his inauguration as president, Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, which creates a legal framework for granting loans to indigent or low-income Nigerians to facilitate the payment of their fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The law, reenacted, created the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
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