Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) has refuted reports alleging that it increased the registration fee for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, Dr. Fabian Benjamin said the cost of the board examination fee was low to ensure that candidates are not overburdened, explaining that the cost of UTME remains N3,500.
“The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been drawn to several publications in recent times insinuating that the board has increased its examination registration fee.
“This is far from the truth as the cost of obtaining the board’s UTME application documents remains N3,500, which has been the cost of its application documents since it was brought down from N5,000 in 2018.
“Therefore, the board wishes to state that the cost of the application document price has not been increased in spite of the prevailing economic reality in the country which has also affected the cost of the board’s operations,” he said.
Consequently, Benjamin stated that the board wishes to assure the general public that it had been doing all within its powers to ensure that candidates are not overburdened in any way.
“One of these measures is to deliberately keep cost low, hence its decision to make available its Use of English reading text free of charge through a QR code to ensure that the increase in cost of production is not passed to candidates.
“Therefore, all UTME candidates would access the reading text free of charge through multiple channels, which include their profiles, e-mail addresses, notification slips and the board’s website,” he stressed.
However, he said that what is being perceived in some quarters as an increment in its fees was the fallout of its cashless policy in which all fees payable by candidates to Computer-based Test (CBT) centres had been consolidated and are paid along with application fees.
JAMB added that this was to prevent the wanton exploitation of its candidates by unscrupulous centre owners.
“These fees are in turn remitted to partnering centres on a weekly basis. For instance, candidates are expected to pay N700 for registration, N1500 as examination fees and N1500 for the optional Mock-UTME at privately – owned centres.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the 2024 UTME/DE e-PIN remains N3500. The registration fee of N700, which is to be paid to CBT centres by candidates, is now to be collected by the board along with N1500.
“This is the cost for sitting the main UTME, and N1500 as the cost of the optional Mock-UTME etc. is to be collected by the board on behalf of the CBT centres,” the board stressed.
