FG approves unified platform for JAMB, NECO
Clement Idoko, Abuja

THE Federal Government has approved a new unified platform for payment and registration for public examinations conducted by Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Examination Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB).

The new converged portal developed by the consortium, Converged Examination Management Technology Platform (CEMTP), when fully deployed would save Nigerians over N3.2 billion annually of technology money spent by candidates on payment for online registration, checking and printing of results among others of the examinations conducted by the three examination bodies.

President and Chief Executive of the SW Global Ltd., Dr. Aloy Chife, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, said candidates applying for any or all of the examinations conducted by these bodies would need to obtain only a single multi-purpose scratch card at the cost of N850 and would be valid for a year in processing all the examination processes.

The project, approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), was contracted to the CEMPT consortium on 12th February, 2009 and is expected to take off fully next year.

Already CEMPT has commenced to test-run the project with the ongoing registration for November/December NECO examination and expressed satisfaction with the seamless registration processes by the candidates.

He disclosed that the new system, which is in line with the new Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) to be introduced with effect from next year by JAMB, would not only increase the credibility of examinations conducted by these bodies but help curtail the incidence of examination malpractices.

Besides, Dr. Chife, said: “In addition to its other benefits such as; cutting down the amount paid by the Nigerian child by millions of Naira, it also provides critical technology such as Biometric and Item Banking for management of examinations.

He explained that previously every candidate spent as much as N5,100 as technology cost involving purchasing of scratch card for registration, checking and printing of results among others, adding that with the use of the multipurpose scratch card all these processes could be performed with a single scratch card.

Chife further stated that the project, which is part of the Federal Government’s Private-Public sector Partnership initiative, expressed commitment of the team to the success of the project aimed at reducing the hassle and burden on candidates sitting for public examinations in Nigeria.

He, however, said the West African Examination Council (WAEC) was excluded from the project because it is a regional examination body that is not controlled by the Nigerian government.

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