By Sam Oditah
Umuahia – The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Abia has promised to deploy adequate personnel in all the accredited centres for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination in the state.
According to a statement issued in Umuahia on Friday, the state Commandant of the Corps, Mr Nwannukwu Nnamdi, made the promise, when he visited the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) office in Umuahia.
The statement, signed by the command’s spokesman, DSC Egwu Ndukwe, stated that the command would collaborate with the board and other stakeholders to check examination malpractice and ensure a hitch-free exercise.
He therefore advised the board to set up an adhoc committee, comprising officials of JAMB, NSCDC and other major stakeholders, to fashion out ways for a successful exercise.
He further said that the command had put its dragnet round the state to check the unscrupulous activities of some JAMB centers and other sales outlets to check arbitrary increase in the price of JAMB forms.
The commandant said that any centre found to have hiked the price above the government approved N4,700 would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
He said: “My command is ready to give full support to the campaign against all forms of extortion of candidates and examination malpractice as our contribution toward promoting quality education among our youth.
“We shall also ensure adequate security of lives and property before, during and after the examination.
“We will increase surveillance with special attention to all the CBT Centers and other accredited outlets in the state.”
Responding, the state Coordinator of JAMB, Mr Chidebe Achunine, commended the command for the successful prosecution and conviction of four of the five suspects arrested for various examination offences in 2019.
He also thanked the command for its unrelenting support to JAMB toward the realisation of its mandate.
He said that JAMB had successfully pruned down the number of accredited centers in the state from 43 to 13.
He also said that centres that were found to have flouted the rules of the organisation, thus frustrating the smooth conduct of UTME in the state, had been de-accreditated.
According to him, registration for the 2020 examination in the state had been “extortion-free, after weeding out the unscrupulous elements in the business.”
He charged candidates and parents to report any center, cyber cafe or bank, found to be selling JAMB forms above the approved price to the nearest NSCDC office in the state.
In another development, the command had announced the recovery of a Rio Kia saloon car, with Reg. No. Kano KNC 128 AA, by its operatives.
The commandant stated that the vehicle, which belonged to one Mrs Onyinyechi Ogba of No. 7 Sanigiwa Street, Sabon Garri, Kano state, was being driven by her husband, James, when kidnap suspects suddenly blocked him at Urata area of Aba and wisked him away in his car to an unknown destination.
He stated that the incident happened at about 6pm on January 6, when the victim was reportedly travelling for the burial of his father-in-law in Abia.
He further said that the victim was later released without his car, even after he claimed to have paid ransom to his alleged abductors.
Nwannukwu said that his men recovered the vehicle on January 10 at Ogwe Village in Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state, following “actionable intelligence”.
He said that his men had been on the trail of the suspects and that the suspects abandoned the car and ecaped, when they sited the operatives.
He said that the vehicle had since been released to its owner.
(NAN)
