The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has urged the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, to implement the decision of Senate on non-use of the National Identity Number (NIN) for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In his reaction to the Senate resolution on non use of NIN for UTME, President, National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Sunday Asefon, backed the Red Chambers’ decision and called on the registrar of JAMB to do the needful.
NAPTAN Deputy National President, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, called on Prof. Oloyede to immediately commence the implementation of the Senate resolution on non use of NIN for the 2021 UTME.
Chief Ogunbanjo commended the Senate for taken the decision to alleviate the suffering thousands of candidates are going through at various NIN registration centres.
His words: ”I want to commend the Senate for taking the right decision to end the suffering of Nigerian students. What the applicants are going through at various NIIN registration centres is unbearable. I visited seven centres on Tuesday, it was overcrowded with candidates. I pity the students who are been exploited.
”Many students who came for the NIN registration with the right amount had to make calls to their parents for additional money. Among the NIN centres I visited include an MTN centre. The process is very slow and they don’t register up to ten students per day.”
He disclosed that with the resolution of Senate, he expect the Minister of Education and management of JAMB to act fast and ensure full compliance to get many candidates register for the NIN.
The NANS president kicked against the use of the NIN for UTME, adding ”we are in support of the resolution. The process and procedure to get the NIN is difficult. NIN should not be prerequisite to register and write UTME. NANS is completely in support of the Senate position.”
Asefon said students are kept in the hot sun waiting for hours to be registered without success because of the capacity of the NIN centres and lack of manpower to handle the exercise. He explained that some officials have taken the advantage to exploit students.
”NIN is something anybody can get easily. They should look for a way to make it ease for students. Every local government area in Nigeria should have NIN offices but this is not so. They also have shortage of personnel and there is need to expand their offices, so that students can have easy access to them.”
The Senate on Tuesday directed the Federal Ministry of Education, JAMB and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), to as matter of urgency, review the implementation of NIN as prerequisite to register and write 2021 UTME.
Resolution of the Senate was based on a point of order raised by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP, Anambra South). he motion titled “The need to address the untold hardship caused by the introduction of NIN as compulsory requirement for JAMB registration.”