Parents of candidates preparing for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, have expressed disappointment with the difficulties their children are having obtaining their National Identification Numbers, NINs.
Due to difficulties obtaining NIN, the start of the registration period for the examination was initially pushed back. The parents, who expressed their feelings on the Concerned Parents & Educators, CPE, Facebook page, said the pressure to obtain the NIN has caused pain to many candidates who want to register for the exam.
Mr. Francis Peter, a relative, thought JAMB’s approach was inappropriate. “If you do something positive in the wrong way, it will be abused,” he said. What happens to students who paid as much as N5000 for a NIN if JAMB’s activities are hindered as a result of the need to obtain one?
“If JAMB’s activities are being hampered because of the need to get NIN, what happens to those students that paid as much as N5000 to get NIN? “What is not supposed to be a problem, has become very cumbersome and some NIMC officials have made millions from it.”
Another parent, Remi Obichukwu has this to say: “Why do we have so many clueless people in places of power making vital decisions over the lives of innocent Nigerians?
NIN is compulsory for all candidates — JAMB Registrar
Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, said the Board initiated the use of NIN in UTME registration to prevent examination malpractice.
He clarified in Abuja during a virtual meeting with owners of Computer-Based Test Centers, service providers, and other stakeholders that the Minister of Education issued the directive for the use of NIN as a prerequisite for registration, adding that the motive was also for security reasons.
“We don’t even require the name of the candidate, we just want the NIN and we will then do the needful to pull the data of the candidate and the process will go on from there. “It is for security reasons; for us at our small level, it helps us to avoid impersonation but there is a bigger picture of insecurity in the country and we know that many of the problems we have is because we have identification problem, we cannot identify every citizen, where he is and what he is doing.”
“Government is trying to ensure that we have some strategy for improving the security system and of course if those who are coming in to the tertiary institution are exposed to this basic civil responsibility, it will be good to develop a culture of accountability because accountability starts from being identified,” he said.
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