Student : About 85,000 students take NIIT scholarship exams

Mercy Lank

85, 000 students sat for the Nigerian Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) part-scholarship exams held in 30 centres across the country. Speaking to The Guardian at the Teslim Balogun centre, NIIT Regional head, West Africa, Ramnarayan Banerjee said that students’ performance in the exam would determine technical programmes they will be recommended.

He said: “Our mission is to help students learn and earn, we are helping them create a career for their future. We are giving them new courses, state of the art curriculum, more sophisticated trainers and also help them get placements.” While noting that they have been in existence in Nigeria since 1999, Banerjee said that so far over 400, 000 students have been impacted with their various programmes and so they have given this opportunity for students to come and acquire knowledge, attitude and skill in the latest technology. “The programme has helped youths to shape their career and have a stable life. We have most of those who pass through our programme in respectable organisations around the world. “In the last five years, the trend has always been positive in acquiring IT skills, the questions is not just learning for the sake of learning but how much can we implement in Nigeria especially as Nigerian students are doing exceptionally well globally,” he explained.

He added that IT is a profession linked with innovation and Nigerian students have been doing exceptional well.

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JUST IN: JAMB begins release of 2018 UTME examination results

Mercy Lank

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has begun to release the results of the ongoing 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The examination began on Friday and will end on March 17. The spokesperson of the board, Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday. He said the board has scrutinized the centres which led to the release of the results. He urged the candidates to visit the board’s website and check their results. “The results will be released in batches, candidates are free to check,” he said. Similarly, a candidate Segun Abidoye, who wrote the examination on Saturday in Ilorin Kwara State, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES. “The result was released in the midnight and I have obtained my scores”, Mr. Abidoye said. PREMIUM TIMES had reported the board stating the results would not be released immediately, in order for it to review the activities of the candidates and to minimise the number of cancellations. “We want to monitor everything that happens through our CCT cameras. Last year, we proved a point that there is nothing extraordinary in the immediate release of results but we had to cancel some results when we found out what happened in some centres. So, if we have to take two or three days to look at the conduct of the candidates before releasing the result so as to minimise cancellation, then we will do so”, the board had said.

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2018 UTME: JAMB, NSCDC parade two for exam malpractice

Mercy Lank

Operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have paraded two suspects arrested at a centre in Abuja for alleged examination malpractice in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The Commandant, NSCDC Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Patrick Ukpen, paraded the suspects in Abuja on Tuesday He said the suspects were apprehended at Baptist Academy, Karu, Abuja. He said one of them who is also a candidate was arrested for allegedly going into the examination hall with her mobile phone. The commandant revealed that the suspect was able to conceal the mobile phone in her underwear and brought it out during the examination.

“We have in our custody today two suspects that were involved in examination malpractice in the ongoing JAMB UTME. Their level of involvement are as follows: A lady whose name is Joy Apkabio, went into the exam hall with a telephone handset and this is against the rules covering the JAMB examination,” Mr Ukpen said “Upon interrogation, we were also able to arrest her accomplice who is another young man by the name Andrew, who introduced her into the business and was equally involved in sending text messages of supposed answers to the examination she was doing,” he said. Mr. Ukpen said the lady was arrested by the officers of the NSCDC through the help of CCTV cameras. “With the use of modern technology; you know the examination centres have CCTV cameras that are sending live transmission of activities that are taking place in the examination hall, and the activities of our men and other JAMB officials who were deployed to the centres. We were able to detect what she was doing and she was immediately arrested,” he said. According to the commandant, “they are in our custody now and we are going to carry out further investigations regarding their involvement and to know if there are other accomplice, he will equally be traced and arrested and thereafter, they will be prosecuted.” Meanwhile, one of the suspects, Andrew Etziuzala who hails from Edo State and is a student of Nassarawa State University, said he has made the biggest mistake of his life. “I have made a very big mistake which will not happen again. The painful thing is that it has tarnished my image”, he said On his part, the Public Relations Officer of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Fabian Benjamin, said the arrest will serve as a deterrent to other candidates. “Just as the commandant has said, we are doing this not because she has been arrested, we want this to serve as a deterrent to other candidates.” He said the board was monitoring the coordination of the examination across the nation from its headquarters. “This particular candidate was spotted from our headquarters, we have made it clear that all our centres are covered by CCTV cameras. “We got a report that something was happening in Baptist Academy, Karu, and we immediately dispatched a team who went there and got the candidate arrested.We want to sound it very clear that there is no shortcut to success. It is no longer business as usual because you will be spotted if you do anything in the examination hall”, Mr Benjamin said. He said the female candidate went into the hall with her phone and text messages were sent to her. “We discovered that the answers were for 1990 JAMB questions, they are not for 2018 questions at all. You can see the level of deception. Even if she wasn’t arrested, she would have failed,” he said. “We want Nigerians to know that the sanctity of this examination is very sacrosanct. We will not allow anybody to destroy what we are doing, we will continue to partner with NSCDC to ensure that whoever attempts to breach the rule of the game is arrested,” he concluded.

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Jamb strange snake: Clark, Philomina Chieshe confesses, reveals who collected N36m

Mercy Lank

The JAMB official, Philomina Chieshe, who weeks back claimed that the board’s N36 million was swallowed by a strange snake has retracted her statement. Chieshe, who works as a clerk at the JAMB office in Markurdi, Benue state, had initially told JAMB auditors that a, “mysterious snake” swallowed the money gotten from the sale of JAMB scratch cards. But appearing before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC), she confessed that the money was collected by one Samuel Umoru, who’s her superior. A fact sheet released by the EFCC indicated that Chieshe was first quizzed on February 16th, 2017 and she made additional statements on April 7 and 13 2017, May 30, 2017 and June 28, 2017. In one of the statements she volunteered to the EFCC, Chieshe, who is a clerk in the Makurdi office of JAMB, revealed that the Coordinator usually asked her to withdraw proceeds of the sale of the Scratch Cards from her account in two new generation banks. She said, “ This money I withdrew, the coordinator used it for the office and some time for himself.

The woman said she had been warning Umoru that it was improper to use the money for miscellaneous expenses in the office or for private purposes but he would not listen. She also claimed that Umoru was in the habit of drawing IOU from the proceeds of the sale of the cards without reimbursing her. Some of the withdrawals which she claimed were at the behest of the coordinator included the N340,000 withdrawn on May 5 and 26, 2014 with ATM card. She also disclosed that she used her ATM card to withdraw N120,000 for the coordinator between June 17 and 18, 2014. “He instructed me to withdraw N640,000, using my card between June 30, 2014 and July 7, 2014. She added, “The investigating team had verified the withdrawals after a careful analysis of the statements of account of the suspect. Umoru had also been arrested and questioned about claims by Chieshe. Umoru did not deny the allegations. “He was, however, released on administrative bail but had been reporting monthly to the anti- graft agency. The interesting aspect of the disclosure is that Chieshe’s statement was obtained long before the snake and Naira swallowing testimony became public knowledge.” In all her statements before the EFCC, there was no mention of any episode of any snake and the disappearance of monies in her care. In a fact-sheet regarding the investigations, Chieshe was quoted to have said her superior — the coordinator at the Markurdi office — had asked her to withdraw the N36 million.” Other JAMB officials being investigated include Tanko Labaran who could not account for N23 million from sale of scratch cards at the Nasarawa office, and Yakubu Jakada who is yet to explain the whereabouts of N20 million e-facilities cards sold in Kano office. All the suspects have been released on bail pending the outcome of the anti-graft agency’s investigations.

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JAMB releases mock UTME result

Mercy Lank

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Thursday released the results of the just-conducted Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in an interview with the Newsmen on Thursday in Lagos. Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) fielding questions from newsmen According to him, candidates are to check their results on line by visiting www.jamb .org.ng with their registration numbers. Benjamin described the conduct of the examination nationwide as hitch-free. NAN reports that a total of 245,753 candidates registered for the mock examination which took place on Monday. Mock UTME is optional for UTME candidates.

The main UTME is expected to hold from March 9 to March 17.

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UTME Candidates Stages Protest, Demands Extension Of Exams Date

Mercy Lank

Ahead of the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) exercise, scores of candidates, who registered for the exam, staged a protest in Lagos over what they described as the inconsiderate stance of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) by fixing the examination for March. The protesting candidates were led by the National President of the Association of Tutorial School Operators, Mr. Dotun Sodunke. Many of them were seen carrying placards, which bore various inscriptions such as; “Admissions are yet to close, why conducting another UTME now?”; “JAMB isn’t for revenue generation, stop milking our parents,” “2017 UTME held in May, why March in 2018?”, “2018 admissions not transparent”. Addressing the press during the protest, Sodunke warned that Nigerians might witness mass failure; if JAMB went on to hold the examination as scheduled. Arguing that the board’s decision to fix the date of the examination for March was not in the best interest of the candidates, he said the latter needed enough time to complete the UTME syllabus before sitting the examination. Wondering if revenue generation for the Federal Government was more important to the examination body than the education of the candidates and by implication, the future of Nigeria, Sodunke said, “The new head of JAMB needs to be called to order. He should not be carried away by the euphoria of revenue generation. The future of this country depends on these children. ‘Admissions have not been concluded in many schools, yet JAMB has fixed a date for another one. Where is such a thing done?” He also described the introduction of the Central Admission Processing System as a “fraud”, saying it was wrong to admit candidates on JAMB’s portal only to deny them admission later on the CAPS page.

“Everything is done in secret. We don’t even know which schools are organising the post-UTME and which ones are not. Every institution is doing what it wants to do. This thing must not be allowed to continue in this way,” he said. However, the Head of the Press and Public Relations Unit of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, explained that there was yet no basis for the postponement being sought by the candidates, saying the date had been fixed as early as December, 2017, and that it was made public. Benjamin said; “We need to place the interest of this country above selfish interest. The candidates are not the ones staging protest but the tutorial centres operators, and parents must intervene to rein them in. They are doing this because they want to keep the candidates at their centres till May so that they can get more money from them. Things are not done that way. “JAMB is not alone in this business. All stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector have realised that our calendar must be organised and firm as we experience abroad, and it must start somewhere. “Even if heaven will fall, the new government wants to ensure that academic calendar starts every August, and that is why all admissions will be concluded by August this year. So if these candidates are affected, we apologise to them, it is for their good and the good of the nation.”

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