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Why Candidates Have To Pay Extra For 2024 UTME- JAMB Registrar

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Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, has explained that the extra money being paid by candidates was a charge by operators of Computer Based Test (CBT) centres to assuage the high cost of diesel.

This is as he denied that the examination body increased the fees for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 2024.

He said JAMB only facilitated the process of collecting the payments so that candidates would not be exploited by the operators.

Prof Oloyede said these when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education at the National Assembly Complex on Wednesday.

The JAMB registrar also knocked some universities for overshooting the number of students approved to be admitted for a session.

This, he said, eventually causes problems for the students.

READ ALSO: JAMB Unveils 10 Fresh Requirements For Foreign Students

He promised to turn over the names of such institutions to the House Committee for further legislative action.

The Registrar also said the examination body was working to recover N4.2 billion owed by Zenith Bank over previous transactions.

He said the matter was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said, “For the CBT centres, I also feel their pain because we also have about 45 of them owned by JAMB directly. We know what they are going through.

“The money is not paid by JAMB but the students themselves. You know N700 for registration and N700 for examination but given the cost of diesel this year, we only allowed them, not that we are paying them because we are collecting from the students and passing to the centres.

“This year we are about announcing. The advertisement is just coming out. We are going to allow them to charge as much as N1500 for UTME because of cost of diesel.

READ ALSO: 2023 JAMB’s Top Performer Gets 8 A’s, 1 B In WAEC

“But you can see the press in the past one week, that JAMB has increased the cost. What we have done is to allow to the CBT centres to charge more than they are charging. But because we are going to collect it for them, why are we collecting it is because if we leave them alone they will extort the students and they will be collecting N4000 or N5000. That is why we said pay to us and we would transfer it to you weekly.

“We have raised it from N700 to N1500 effective from 2024 so as to allow them to recoup. We have not increased JAMB fee. We only allowed this people to charge a better fee by adding to what they are charging but all the newspapers had reported it that we have increased the charges.

Also speaking on the approval given to higher institutions on the number of students to be admitted, he said most of them are admitting more than the approved number.

“We are ready to give you the names and you don’t need to go far. They are many of them around. It is general indiscipline. NUC gives the quota for universities, NBTE gives for polytechnics and NCC gives for Colleges of Education. But unfortunately some of these our people would go and, not only would they get more, they would not disclose the admission until candidates are ready to go on NYSC and they cannot go because without admission letter they can go.

“It is then they would talk about regularisation. How can you regularise what is not regular? So what we are saying is that you have admitted a candidate four years ago, we provided the data for Bureau of Statistics, now suddenly about one million emerged that were not registered at all and people would say it is JAMB who is holding them.

READ ALSO: Job Racketeering: Reps Query JAMB Registrar, Oloyede Over Controversial Employment

“We are holding them because they were not properly admitted. We would provide you a list of such people and you call them. Many of them would write letters of apology this year and they would still do it next year and they would write another letter of apology. You cannot kill them,” he said.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon Oboku Ofoji, urged the Board to reconcile its financial records with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

He said the interface with the examination body was not a witch-hunt.

He said it was an effort to improve the educational sector in the country.

“I want to also clear one wrong impression that it is a witch-hunt. This job is about our country and educational sector. so for us to intergface with you and you see all the national television here, to me I was thinking that jamb would appreciate this conversation openly. It goes a long way to inform Nigerians how prepared JAMB is. We all owe Nigerians explanations about our stewardship,” he said.

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UNIBEN Ex-deputy VC Is Dead

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A Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University of Benin, Edo State, Prof. Pius Iribhogbe, is dead.

Until his demise, Prof. Iribhogbe was also a consultant trauma surgeon, head of the Department of Surgery and coordinator of the School of Paramedics at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

The academic scholar passed on in Saudi Arabia.

UNIBEN’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, who confirmed the surgeon’s death said the school was yet to issue a statement.

 

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Residents Displaced As Rainstorms Wreck Havoc In Edo Community

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Lampese community in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State has been ravaged by rainstorms.

The incident was said to have occurred Friday as a result of a heavy downpour which affected many houses including the electricity transformer.

An eyewitness account described the incident as very unfortunate following the level of devastation.

Residents of the community have therefore called on the state and local governments and all concerned authorities to come to their rescue with a view to proffering urgent solutions and resettling displaced residents.

READ ALSO: PHOTOS: Properties Worth Millions Destroyed As Fire Razes Shops In Benin

Reacting to the situation, the local government council chairman, Tajudeen Suleman, who said he was far away in Enugu State for an official engagement, disclosed that he has mobilised the council officials to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment immediately he got the news, promising to visit victims as soon as he returns today.

He also said he was in touch with the state deputy governor, Marvellous Omobayo and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on moves to fast track the process of resettling affected persons.

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Lawyer Drags NERC, AGF, Minister Of Power To Court Over Electricity Tariff Hike

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joe Agi, has taken legal action against the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Abuja Electricity Distribution (AEDC) for allegedly raising his electricity tariff by 230 per cent.

The case is currently being heard by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Agi is seeking the protection of his fundamental rights.

In his application, the senior lawyer asks the court to declare that the new tariffs and the hours of supply violate the Electricity Act of 2023 and Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.

The applications list NERC, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu; the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, and AEDC as the first to fourth respondents, respectively.

READ ALSO: Customer Drags NERC, AGF To Court Over Electricity Tariff Hike, Classification

In the attached affidavit submitted with the lawsuit, the attorney stated that he purchased 682kwh of utility from the AEDC on both March 23 and April 3, for a total of N50,000.

Furthermore, Agi declared that on April 6, he made another N50,000 utility purchase, but this time the value of the purchase was reduced to 206.7kwh.

He expressed his concern regarding this unexpected change but later discovered that the NERC and AEDC had implemented a system known as “bands” in the country. Under this system, NERC issued the April 2024 Supplementary Order to the Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024.

“That from the tariffs shared, the 1st and 4th respondents (NERC and AEDC) increased my tariffs by 230%, whereas others had theirs increased by 236%,177% and some others 0% in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Electricity Workers Fault Tariff Hike, Threaten Strike

“The tariffs are discriminatory and the hours of supply are discriminatory between consumers and consumer categories and should be cancelled,” the SAN prayed the court.

Agi criticized the statement made by NERC’s chairman, Musiliu Oseni, on April 1st, where he stated that “only 15% of the electricity consumers in the country who consume 40% of the nation’s electricity are the ones affected.”

In Agi’s view, this directive creates a distinction between the 15% and the remaining 85% of consumers in Nigeria, which he considers discriminatory.

He argued that the use of US Dollars to determine tariffs in Nigeria is unnecessary and goes against public policy.

READ ALSO: Edo Guber: ‘Which Campaign Council’, Orbih Fumes, Rejects Inclusion

Consequently, the applicant requested “a declaration that the NERC Supplementary Order to the MYTO 2024 is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and a clear violation of the applicant’s right to freedom from discrimination as guaranteed under Section 116 (2) (e) of the Electricity Act, 2023, and Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).”

He also stated that it violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9 Vol. 1LEN 2004.

Agi also requested the court to declare that the use of the United States of American dollar exchange rate to determine the cost of tariffs in Nigeria is illegal, unconstitutional, and against public policy. Additionally, he sought an order to invalidate the NERC Supplementary Order to the MYTO 2024, as it is discriminatory and a clear violation of his right to freedom from discrimination as protected by the law.

However, no hearing date has been scheduled for this matter.

Recall that on April 3, NERC increased the electricity tariff for customers in the Band A category, who receive 20 hours of power supply daily, from N66/kWh to N225/kWh.

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