The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) on Monday paraded two of its workers for allegedly extorting money from Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates with a promise to help them gain admissions.
The affected staff, who is a level 12 officer in Delta State JAMB’s office, confessed to collecting N500, 000 from four candidates’ parents, out of which he paid N180, 000 to another colleague, a level 8 officer, to help facilitate their admissions.
But the issue became public when one of the parents in Delta State petitioned JAMB on the level 12 officer’s activities, a move that prompted the organization to open up an investigation into the issue.
The indicted officer told journalists at JAMB headquarters on Monday evening in Abuja that he engaged in the fraudulent act because of economic hardship.
But a mild drama, however, started when his partner in level 8 who had earlier claimed he was into fish business with the level 12 officer, later admitted that his involvement in the act might not be “ordinary.”
The level 8 officer at JAMB Headquarters said he was probably hypnotized by his colleague to engage in the shady deals, adding that he only got to know him by phone last year through a third party.
He said, “It was not ordinary, he was just calling me, I don’t know him, he lured me into this when he convinced me that he has been into it for a long time.”
Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, who expressed surprise that the affected staff defied his zero tolerance for corruption, vowed to make sure they face the full wrath of the law.
Oloyede, said, “Anybody who engages in sharp practices, no matter who the person is, shall not be protected by the Board because the Board has zero-tolerance for corruption.”
He further advised parents and candidates not to allow anyone to collect money from them in the name of helping them secure admission to their chosen institution as the system is now fully automated.
The Registrar said, “The admission exercise into tertiary institutions has been automated, therefore anybody working in JAMB or anybody who has good calculation, who knows what admission process is, can predict who can be admitted because it has been automated.
