The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was drawn to a publication in the Punch Newspaper of Wednesday, 20th March, 2024, alleging that the Board had unjustly refused to register a CBT centre belonging to Aatrix Innovation Limited owned by one Mr. Abdulhakeem, an Osogbo-based businessman. This publication, to say the least, is most unfortunate given the misrepresentation of facts by the desperate centre owner
.It should be noted that approval of centres is not automatic as there are requirements and conditions to be met. These standard requirements can never be compromised irrespective of the status of the owners of such centres.
To underscore the importance of these requirements, centres are accredited every year irrespective of their standing or performance in the Board’s activities the preceding year as those who failed to live up to expectations are denied accreditation despite any prior record of performance.
It is to be noted that the Board has had occasions to deny accreditation to its own CBT centres when such centres were not properly managed by its assigned officials. It is true that, over the years, the proprietor of Aatrix Innovation Ltd had presented his facility for accreditation but the truth remains that on all occasions he failed to meet the minimum requirements for approval of centres.
The accreditation exercise is handled by very distinguished scholars with impeccable character, who are specialists in Information Technology and related disciplines, and whose reports the Board considers in approving any centre. It is perhaps, instructive to note that on a particular occasion, precisely early this year, the centre was invited to subject its facility for final examination through the instrumentality of the Autobot software but the proprietor of the centre declined this invitation stating that the centre was not ready.
As this procedure was one of the critical stages for ascertaining the quality of individual computers in any given centre, especially in terms of facilitating remote viewing from our headquarters, the centre could, therefore, not be accredited for the conduct of any of 2024 UTME processes. It is quite disturbing that the proprietor of a facility applying to be used as an examination centre could be this desperate as he seems to want a centre but he is not prepared to go through the rigours of securing one.
The Board has noted with concern the series of allegations levelled by the proprietor of the centre against its officials. However, it is our fervent desire to enter into genuine partnership with individuals who are interested in advancing the course of educational assessment, hence our constant invitation to the centre to bring up credible information to back up its claims.
Perhaps, it would be appropriate to inform the public of the efforts of the Registrar of the Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who had personally took up the matter and established contact with the proprietor of the centre to substantiate his allegations of impropriety against members of staff of the Board, however, he is yet to provide any to date. It should be noted that the Board is always desirous of securing quality and functional centres and had, on some occasions, had to plead with private and corporate bodies to invest in the establishment of CBT centres, as such it is always ready to partner with any investor ready to provide good and state-of-the-art centres without compromising its accreditation standards.
Unfortunately, this is what the proprietor of Astrix Innovation Ltd seems to be finding difficult to appreciate. To him, approval should be given regardless of the quality and functionality of the centre. Peddling unsubstantiated allegations without proof does nobody any good. Even now the Board is ready to act decisively if the centre is ready to subject itself to its final approving process for the next exercise as well as also provide evidence that some of its officials solicited bribes to compromise its operational processes.
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