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COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE JOINT ADMISSIONS AND MATRICULATION BOARD MEETING WITH STAKEHOLDERS ON THE ONGOING
2021 UTME/DE REGISTRATION EXERCISE,
AT SHERATON HOTELS, ABUJA, FROM MAY 14 – 15, 2021
PREAMBLE
Following reports of widespread delay in the on-going registration of candidates for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)/Direct Entry (DE), a two-day stakeholders’ meeting was convened under the auspices of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The meeting held at Sheraton Hotels, Abuja, on 14th and 15th May, 2021.
2. Stakeholders present at the meeting included officials of government agencies and private entities involved in the registration exercise:
i. JAMB Management
ii. Representative of the Federal Ministry of Education
iii. Representative of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)
iiii. National Coordinator, SERVICOM
v. Representative of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)
vi. Representative of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
vii. Representatives of Telcos
viii. Representatives of JAMB Digital Service Providers
3. In his briefing at the meeting, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, thanked the attendees for honouring the invitation to the meeting. He said the interface was to identify the challenges that had impeded the registration process and proffer workable solutions to the bottlenecks in the interest of the teeming number of candidates intending to pursue further studies in institutions of higher learning.
4. The Registrar reminded stakeholders that the introduction of National Identification Number (NIN) in 2020 as a registration requirement for UTME/DE is by law. This was however suspended for registration because of certain circumstances. In 2021 exercise the Board embrace the policy following the directive from the Federal Government. This year, however, the requirement for NIN is being enforced fully and field reports have shown a marked improvement in NIMC enrolment and other critical processes.
5. Contrary to the Board’s projection of about two million candidates, 1,134,424 candidates (UTME+DE) have so far been registered.
6. Stakeholders undertook on-the-spot assessment of registration process at some Computer Based Test centres (CBTs), NIMC registration enrolment centres and Telco office in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where they interacted with prospective candidates and CBT Centre operators.
7. After exhaustive deliberations, stakeholders identified in the following categories, the principal challenges that had delayed registration:
i. Candidates’ non-compliance with registration requirements
– Using wrong format to generate profile code while sending NIN to the Board’s USSD code (55019)
– Input of incomplete or wrong NIN to generate profile code
– Using an already used cell phone number to generate another profile code
– Use of special packages such as post-paid, promo bundles, Do Not Disturbed (DND) which block delivery of profile code to the candidates
– Last-minute rush for NIN enrolment by prospective candidates
ii. CBT Centres’ violation of registration procedures
– Use of inadequate registration points such as only one or two instead of approved minimum of ten (10)
– Warehousing of candidates by prior collection of registration fee thereby constraining the candidates from registering at other available centres.
iii. Inadequacies of NIMC Accredited Enrolment Centres.
– Extortion of enrollees by imposing charges for what ought to be free enrolment (since Government pays for it)
– Compelling enrollees to procure unnecessary services such as lamination, petrol, etc)
– Use of untrained and unauthorised personnel to register candidates
iv. Telcos and Digital Service Providers’ poor service delivery
– Connectivity failure
– Non-reimbursement for undelivered codes generated
– Malfunctioning of software
– Inadequate capacity
v. NIMC-Hitches
– Missing data
– Connection errors
– Delay in verification
– Wrong responses
– Large number of prospective enrolees in NIMC -owned centres
8. RESOLUTIONS
DESIROUS of affording prospective candidates more time to complete their registration for the 2021 UTME/DE, which was expected to end on Saturday, May 15, 2021,
i. Stakeholders recommended a two-week extension for registration, to now end on May 29, 2021. The extension is contingent upon stakeholders’ firm commitment to deliver on their respective responsibilities.
Accordingly, the 2021 Mock UTME earlier scheduled for 20th May, 2021 will now hold on June 3, 2021 while the main UTME will hold from June 19 – July 3, 2021.
ii. JAMB will dispatch monitoring teams to all States of the Federation and the FCT during the extension period.
iii. JAMB hereby directs CBT Centres to stop selling ePINs and flouting this directive would attract appropriate sanctions.
iv. No CBT centre should collect money for ePIN and registration fees simultaneously. No CBT centre should collect registration fee from candidates more than they can register in a day. This is to avoid warehousing of candidates.
v. Stakeholders reiterated the prohibition of group registration by any school or group for candidates. Any CBT centre that violates the instruction, would be delisted. Such schools hide under JAMB’s exercise to extort their own students and others.
vi. CBT centres are directed to open all twenty (20) allowable registration points to, ease congestion at the centres.
vii. Candidates for Direct Entry are reminded that, while procuring their ePIN, they should specify their category of admission. However, where a DE candidate mistakenly purchases an ePIN for UTME, the selling point is hereby directed to rectify the error by swapping the ePIN to DE at no further cost to the candidate.
viii. Digital Service Providers are encouraged to expand their facilities, including provision of redundancy links.
ix. NIMC pledged to give priority attention to UTME/DE prospective candidates at the enrolment centres across the country.
x. NIMC promises to deploy more hands and facilities to cope with the large number of prospective candidates.
xi. NIMC requested all prospective candidates, JAMB-ad hoc and full-time staff who have not received a response from 55019 to send their Tracking ID or NIN to nimc-jamb2021@nimc.gov.ng. However, those who had obtained their NIN through unathorised sources or have compromised standards will have to go to NIMC office to resolve their challenges.
xii. NIMC further pledged to deploy special monitoring teams, and to sanction any NIMC agent found extorting candidates in the cause of enrolment.
xiii. Against the background of its below par performance, one of the operators gave firm assurance of the optimisation of its services during the extension of the registration and examination.
xiv.NCC and FCCPC undertook to monitor the process and ensure prompt and quality services from all service providers and would not hesitate to take appropriate actions against any discovered violation.
xv. Stakeholders implored the Federal Ministry of Education to discourage parents from seeking to register underage and immature candidates to pursue tertiary education ahead of their time.
Thank you
