By Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu
Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned all Computer Based Test (CBT) centres to desist from retaining data of candidates applying for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) or Direct Entry (DE), in order to avoid subjecting candidates to unnecessary hardship.
JAMB’s head of publicity and protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in the board’s bulletin made available to Blueprint on Monday.
Benjamin said the warning became necessary because some of the centres subject candidates to extortion and unnecessary pressure.
“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned all operators of Computer-Based Test centres, ePIN vendors, staff of JAMB and others involved in any aspect of the 2022 UTME/DE registration exercise against keeping any part of candidates’ data as doing so, is against the
provisions of the Data Protection Act.
“The Board, therefore, reiterated that the data of each candidate is a private property and should remain so.
Consequently, none of the officials in the registration value chain is authorised to keep candidates’ profile codes, UTME registration or phone numbers, which candidates may make available to them in the course of the registration process,” Benjamin said.
Candidates, on the other hand, are also
urged to ensure that they guide their
information (data) jealously by providing their details to only designated officials
while ensuring that what they provide is
not duplicated or kept anywhere.
“This information became necessary
following the outcome of the monitoring exercise of the commencement of the
registration 2022 UTME/DE
exercise which began on Saturday,
February 19, 2022.”
To ensure a hitch-free exercise, JAMB
Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, had
visited centres in Lagos and Ilorin, while
other members of management had
gone to other states across the six
geopolitical zones of the country to assess the situation of things, Benjamin said.
The registrar described the
commencement of the exercise, which had begun on a low key, as a positive beginning, and assured the public that all the little hiccups noted earlier would be addressed. He furthe said that candidates can also make use of the
additional USSD code, 66019, to
generate their profiles.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti state Office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation
Board (JAMB) has warned
Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre
owners in the state to shun all forms of
sharp practices as the 2022 Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination
(UTME) registration began.
The State Coordinator Mr Hakeem
AbdulHameed, gave this charge at a
meeting organised for CBT centre owners in the state Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
At the meeting, the coordinator shed
light on grey areas such as the
introduction of additional USSD code
66019 to the 55019 to ensure a seamless registration process.
Mr AbdulHameed also said the cashless regime recently introduced by the Board, was aimed at preventing warehousing of candidates and other infractions.
Similarly, he briefed the centre owners on the period allowed for daily
registration and the upload of templates filled by the candidates and
the Board’s zero tolerance for the mass
purchase of e-PINs.
“Routers and customised SIMs
must not be moved from the registered
location,” he said.
He advised centre owners and
administrators to adhere strictly to all new rules guiding the operations of all
accredited CBT centres as well as
registration, warning that the Board would invoke the “Loss of
SIM is Loss of Centre” policy.