The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has suspended the plan to use of the National Identity Number, NIN, for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
The suspension was announced on Saturday in Abuja by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, at a press conference.
One of the reasons, Oloyede said, was the several calls made by stakeholders to that effect.
He said besides, there would be need for a more efficient system to enable it achieve its goal of using NIN for JAMB.
He however said that the suspension of the NIN did not affect permanent and ad-hoc staff of the board who would participate in the exercise.
His words: “We came to a decision yesterday and decided that we will suspend the use of NIN as a prerequisite for the 2020 UTME and Direct Entry (DE) registration until 2021.
“By then, all candidates would have been given one year notice to register.
“This does not affect our permanent and ad-hoc staff who will participate in the exercise as they will require the NIN for verification.
“We have gone round and seen the passion and commitment of the candidates; the reality on ground is that what we expect is not attainable at the moment, so we shall not inflict more pain on candidates.”
The Director-General of NIMC, Mr Aliyu Azeez, who also spoke on the issue said the decision was taken because the commission was overwhelmed with the exercise based on the short notice.
He said while the NIMC needed 4,000 centres to carry out the exercise, only 1,000 centres were available.
Both JAMB and NIMC said they would continue to work together to make a success of the exercise.
Parents and students, Azeez said, should use the opportunity of the period given to register their children ahead of 2021 exercise.
