The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board said it remitted N5
billion to the Federal Government purse after the conduct of its
2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
This is contained in the board’s weekly bulletin, signed by the
JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, on Monday
in Lagos State.
Benjamin explained later in a telephone interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria that the Federal Government gave back N2 billion
out of the N5 billion to the board to enhance its operations.
“The board returned N5 billion to the Federal Government, but
out of that amount, the board was given N2 billion to further
enhance its operations,” he said.
Meanwhile, some 2019 UTME candidates have alleged challenges in
accessing their results through telephone as advised by JAMB.
JAMB released the results on Saturday and directed candidates to
use the same telephone numbers they used in vending the pins for
the examination registration documents to access their results by
sending RESULT to a code – 55019.
NAN reports that, out of the 1.8 million candidates who
registered for the examination, a total of 1,792,719 had their
results released by the board.
The board withheld results of 34,120 candidates over alleged
examination malpractice, while results of 15,145 candidates are
undergoing further clarification, as in the case of identical twins
and siblings, for example.
A parent, Mrs Bridget Otuagha, told NAN that his son had yet to
get the result in spite of many efforts.
According to her, the candidate followed the process many times
without success.
“I am worried about this whole thing. My son has been trying to
get his result since Saturday to no avail.
“He has been sending this RESULT to the said code, up until this
morning, and there has been no response to that effect.
“JAMB should see if there is another way,” she told NAN.
Another concerned parent, Mrs Florence Ibem, also told NAN that
her son had the same issue.
“Since they released the results, we have not been able to
access his score through the telephone number we used in acquiring
the registration pin.
“After sending RESULT to the said code severally, there was
still no result. This is disturbing and frustrating.
“Something should be done, and urgently too. Even if it is
withheld or cancelled, I think we deserve to know,” she said.
When contacted, Benjamin, the board’s Head, Media and
Information, apologised to the affected candidates on behalf of the
board.
According to him, the challenge was from the service
providers.
He said that the board had summoned the service providers for a
meeting on the issue.
“We have just had a meeting with the service providers and they
assured us that they are working hard to get the issue addressed.
In no distant time, such candidates should be able to access their
results without any hitch.
“We are just trying to ensure that all the candidates deserving
of results should have firsthand information of their performances
via their telephones.
“After that, we will post the results on our website for
candidates to go ahead and print,” he said.
(NAN)