The Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board , Prof Is-haq Oloyede, has revealed the reason why all candidates of the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination must use of the National Identity Number for their registration.
Prof Oloyede said the move was for security reasons and to checkmate examination malpractice.
The JAMB registrar stated this during a virtual meeting with owners of computer-based test centres, service providers and other stakeholders to kick-start the 2021 UTME registration.
He added that the directive was from the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.
“We don’t even require the name of the candidate, we just want the NIN. We will then do the needful to pull the data of the candidate and the process will go on from there.
“It is for security reasons. For us at our small level, it helps us to avoid impersonation, but there is a bigger picture. There is insecurity in the country and we know that many of these problems are there because we have identification problems. We can’t identify every citizen, where he is and what he is doing,” he said.
Oloyede noted that UTME candidates must make use of accessible SIM cards which have never been used for their registration.
Speaking on waiver, he disclosed that discussions were ongoing with the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, to grant a conditioned waiver to an estimated 20 per cent of candidates without SIM cards.