Following the issuance of fake Advanced (‘A’) level results to candidates to enable them secure admission into tertiary institutions, the Federal Government has established an ‘A’ level data bank to ensure sanctity in the entire admission process.

The Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this known at a 3-day workshop for Public Relations’ staff of the Board held in Abuja on Tuesday.

Oloyede, who said the data bank would ensure all ‘A’ Level results were registered under one platform to bring about standardisation and integrity of the certificates, disclosed that over 47 proprietors of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board Examination (IJMBE) and the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB) have so far been arrested for issuing fake ‘A’ level results to candidates.

He noted that the minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has thereafter approved the establishment of ‘A’ Level certificates data bank in the country, alongside several other measures to ensure total sanity in its examination processes.

Oloyede, who was represented at the event by JAMB’s Director, Legal Services, Dr Abdul Wahab Oyedokun, listed some of the other measures to include the deployment of sophisticated biometric technology to curb multiple registration in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

“In the last one year and in the second coming of Professor Oloyede as registrar of JAMB, one of the major assignments we did here was to focus on some the things that are happening in these JUPEB and IJMB.

“During the last exam we called a stakeholders meeting and invited managers of these organs and we asked some questions.

“We also collaborated with others security services to spread our net across the country to see what is happening and lo and behold more than 47 proprietors of these, and some of their lecturers and teachers, and people conniving with them in perpetrating malpractices were arrested all over the country.

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“Arising from that, the Honourable Minister of Education has graciously approved the establishment of A Level data bank. So for example, in a particular university, 90 percent of those who presented their ‘A’ level results for admission were found to be fake,” the JAMB boss said.

Oloyede, who noted the inability of candidates to carry out multiple registrations due to JAMB’s evolution from an analog entity to a digital entity in terms of registration, said it was reason behind the current drop in UTME registration.

The JAMB boss further revealed that a total of N27.2 billion was remitted to the Federal Government’s coffers from 2017 to 2022, adding that a total of N9.7 billion was used for capital projects within the same period.

Also speaking at the event, JAMB’s Head of Media and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, charged the Board’s Public Relations staff to leverage on the training to do more in the discharge of their duties amid surge in citizen journalism.

The Star