Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof. Ishiaq Oloyede, has revealed that the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) was instrumental to the reduction of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) fee from N5,000 to N3,500.
He said this at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, as part of preparations for the 2019 UTME, scheduled to hold from April 11 to 17, across the country and foreign centres.
In November 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the reduction of the examination fees as well as that of other examinations.
Oloyede recalled that at one of the board’s stakeholders’ meetings, the NGE had suggested that rather than return money made from sales of forms to government coffers as had become the practice in JAMB since he (Oloyede) assumed office, especially since JAMB is not a revenue generating agency, the board should consider a reduction of the application fees.
He said following the suggestion, he wrote a memo to the ministry, which was graciously approved, leading to the reduction of the fees.
Oloyede commended the media and civil society organisations for their support to the board, which, he said, had improved the UTME conduct.