JAMB Adopts E-Naira For Payment, Mandates CBT Centres To Install CCTV Cameras

The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have reached an understanding which allows the e-Naira to be used to make payment for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Speaking on the development at a meeting with the board, Rakiya Mohammed, Director of IT, Architecture and Strategy Division at the CBN, said the adoption of the e-naira will eliminate extortion of candidates, help block leakages in the board’s transactions and reduce the overall indirect cost of cash transaction, among other things.

Mohammed, who was represented by Abdul Shedrach, noted that the e-naira payments would not replace cash payments but rather function as a safe alternative.

Meanwhile, the board made it clear to all its computer-based testing (CBT) centre that they need to install close circuit television (CCTV) cameras for surveillance of the UTME exercise or risk being cancelled as credible centres.

The JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, made this known in the board’s weekly bulletin while reviewing some of the CBT centres.

He said the board has received numerous reports of some centers turning off CCTV cameras to allow for exam malpractice and warned that any centre that tampers with the cameras or fails to cover any of its exam sessions will have the results of any such sessions cancelled in line with the “no CCTV, no result, no payment” policy.

“Any centre that tampers with its CCTV system or router will pay for its reconfiguration.

“The CCTV must cover all areas of the examination centre including the biometrics verification point, holding rooms, walkway (if there is any), examination halls, server room, entrance and exit doors, among others,” he said.

Oloyede added that the board could prosecute and delist any centre found culpable, if the board is convinced of any infractions or malpractice.

According to the release, JAMB visited all 830 CBT centres during its recently concluded accreditation exercise. Over 200 centres failed the integrity test and were rejected while 627 centres passed.