Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, yesterday said the board has de-listed 14 Computer Based Test centres out of the 712 accredited for the conduct of unified tertiary examination because they committed infractions during the conduct of its mock examination on Monday.
Some of the infractions cited by the board included deceit and borrowing computer systems without informing the board. The registrar said that the 698 centres left in operation were ready for the conduct of the UTME scheduled to begin on April 11.
Prof. Oloyede disclosed this during the monitoring of this year’s mock examination with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in some CBT centres in Abuja.
He said: “So far, so good; all the centres are doing very well. Of the 712, we have had to dis-accredit 14 this morning for one infraction or the other.
“Those centres we discovered went ahead to borrow computer systems for the exams have been dis-accredited.
“Now, we have about 698 centres left in the operation, but we have distributed the students across board.”
Oloyede, also revealed that two JAMB officials were attacked during the mock exercise which took place on Monday in some select CBT centres nationwide.
The registrar said the attack took place at a centre in the Lagos State Polytechnic.
He said the two officials would also have been set ablaze but for the quick intervention of the security agencies which saved them from the attempted jungle justice.
He said the reason for the dastardly attack was yet to be ascertained, even as the two officials have been taken to the hospital after they were rescued.
The registrar said the board has launched an investigation to ascertain the cause of the attempted murder of its officials on legitimate duty.
The registrar said: “The very first sad thing that we noticed was that two of our staff were almost murdered in Lagos.
“There was an attempt on their lives at the Lagos State Polytechnic. For whatever reason, they were wet with petrol and they were to be set ablaze.
“We have sent a rescue team and they took them to the hospital. We are still looking into what happened, but we have evacuated our staff from the place.
“We hope that whoever attempted that, the law enforcement agencies will not allow such an assault on innocent officials of government who went about their normal business.”
The minister, at the end of the monitoring, expressed confidence in the successful conduct of the examination on April 11.
He appealed to centres bent on perpetrating infractions to desist from such act.
The minister said: “Everything is going on fine. The assessment of the exam is that everything is in order and from the report I am receiving from all over the country, everything is fine.
“I will advise those centres perpetrating some kind of malpractices to stop and adhere to whatever guidelines they have been given by JAMB; otherwise, the same fate will befall them.
“From what I have seen today, JAMB is ready for the examinations.”
157,000 candidates who indicated interest for the mock examination at the point of registration, sat for the preparatory examination nationwide.