- He said impersonation became possible because some people now have multiple NINs
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has highlighted that cases of individuals possessing double National Identification Numbers (NIN) allowed for impersonation in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
This statement follows the arrest of a father and his son for alleged impersonation during the ongoing UTME.
As reported by The Cable, the unnamed father reportedly impersonated his son to assist him in passing the university entrance examination.
In an interview on Wednesday, Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of JAMB, confirmed this development. Oloyede visited the Kaduna State University (KASU) Computer Based Test (CBT) center before addressing the press, expressing disappointment in the moral decline of some parents resorting to such shameful acts.
“Two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will tell his son when they are locked in the same cell,” Oloyede said.
Oloyede said the 2024 examination recorded huge success, except for a few cases of impersonation.
He said impersonation became possible because some people now have multiple NINs.
“For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that. Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation,” he said.
“For instance now, we say we have NIN. We now have cases of people with two NINs. That has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We will take that up with NIMC; that there are people who have two NIN.”
Oloyede said a total of 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 UTME.
He added that those who have missed the exam for reasons not caused by JAMB should forget about it.
The registrar said the board cannot spend millions to reorganise a session for candidates who missed it due to their recklessness.
“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB, They would now put 30 students in one bus,” he said.
“They will now be dropping them in different locations. By they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam. You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?
“Even a religious body wrote to me that ‘the following 100 candidates, I want them to write their exams on a particular day of the examination’. They were even deciding for me the school to post the candidates. How is that possible?”