LAGOS – The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for delisting 76 Computer-Based Test Centres for various infractions during the recently concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

It also lauded the board for ordering the prosecution of about 100 persons allegedly involved in various malpractices during the UTME that held between April 11 and April 18, 2019.

Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Chairman, in a statement issued by Adegboyega Otunuga, the group’s Coordinator, Media and Publications, said the fight against corruption within the Nigerian society could not be successfully waged if school children and adults freely manipulate the process of adjudging performance and rewarding academic abilities.

He maintained that examination malpractices when left unchecked, would reward laziness and crown dishonesty, while catapulting negative people into positions of authority and leadership, resulting in social miasma afflicting the Nigerian society today.

Adeniran stated: “We would recollect that during the third annual seminar of the Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE), held last weekend, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede revealed how security operatives caught some cheats who tried to cut corners in collaboration with some JAMB officials and operators of some of the CBT Centres.

“He revealed how unknown to them, Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) were recording every inch of their action unknown to them. The JAMB Registrar expressed amazement at the number of people perpetrating these anomalies even amongst its own staff.

“It is in this light that we not only commend the revolution that has been happening in JAMB since the assumption of office of Professor Ishaq Oloyede, but also call on relevant authorities and governmental agencies to beam their searchlight on our universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions with a view to sanitising the entire educational system of the country, which for a long time now, has been ravaged by examination malpractices and other evil devices that could only propel our society towards perdition.”

The CACOL boss stressed that with a breakdown of morality and discipline in almost all spectra of Nigerian society today, the Federal Government must continue to intensify its fight against corruption, one way in which meant that the educational system should not be compromised.

Adeniran stated: “We insist that those found culpable by JAMB in this latest infraction should not be spared, but made to bear the full brunt of their betrayal by bringing the full weight of the law to bear to serve as a deterrent.

“It is unfortunate that due to the unholy romance with corruption by successive governments in Nigeria, the scourge was seen by many Nigerians as a desirable bride. It is high time we used a big rod to exterminate the ogre of this canker-worm for a better Nigeria to suffice.”