Posted on: 10:36 Thu, 14 Nov 2019



The House of Representatives has directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to suspend the compulsory use of National Identification Number (NlN) to register prospective candidates for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examination till 2021.

The House gave the directive at the plenary yesterday following the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance on the need JAMB to extend the commencement year for the use of NIN to allow more time and better awareness for prospective candidates.

While moving the motion, Hon. Zainab Gimba, commended the JAMB on its decision to synergise with the NIMC in order to ensure a more transparent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination process.

She noted that the compulsory use of prospective candidates‘ data from NIMC database, which is scheduled to start next year, would help curb incidents of multiple registration and other forms of malpractices perpetrated in the UTME process.

Gimba however recalled that sometime this year, an official of the NIMC disclosed that less than 20 per cent of Nigerians are captured in NIMC’s database.

She noted that the younger Nigerians and minors constitute the larger number of those yet to be captured by NIMC considering the fact that the initial registration criteria which captured persons aged 18 and above only.

The House expressed worry that many prospective candidates from remote locations in the country might not be able to register for the UTME due to non-registration with the NIMC.

The House also expressed concern that the notice given by JAMB was too sudden and not sufficient to allow all prospective UTME candidates to be captured by the NIMC.

The green chamber also stressed the need for JAMB needs to establish a better collaboration with NMIC, states and local governments to enable efficient and less stressful registration of prospective candidates.

The House therefore urged, “JAMB to extend the commencement year for the compulsory use of National Identification Number (NlN) to the 2021 UTME in order to allow more time and better awareness for prospective candidates”.