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15 years old boy clinches best in 2019 UTME—Oloyede

15 years old boy clinches best in 2019 UTME—Oloyede
A 15-year old, EKele Franklin from Imo state clinched the overall best result in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME) conducted between April 11 to 15, says Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar.
Oloyede said this during a press conference on the release of the results in Abuja on Saturday.
He said Franklin, who chose University of Lagos scored 347 might eventually not get the admission because he is underage.
The board registrar also said one Emmanuel Chidebube, a 16-year old boy from Abia came second with 346 score while Isaac Olamide, a 17-year old indigene of Osun state came third with 345 score.
While giving the breakdown of the results, Oloyede said 2,906 candidates scored over 300 as against 4,683 in the 2018 results.
He added that 57,579 candidates scored between 250 and 299 as against 64,120 in the 2018 results.
According to him, 366,757 candidates also scored between 200 and 249 which is showed significant improvement from the 2018 results.
He also said 361,718 candidates pooled between 180 and 199 as against 325,152 in 2018 while 494,484 scored between 160 and 179 as against 455,898 last year.
Oloyede further said 410,844 candidates scored between 140 and 159 as against 346,825 recorded in 2018 while also 99,463 scored between 100 and 139 as against 64,712 in 2018.
He identified a lot of infractions from candidates and Computer Based Centres (CBT) owners ranging from multiple registration, manipulation of biometrics and deliberate destruction of power sources during the examination.
“No doubt, examination malpractice is a cankerworm that has eaten deeply not only into Nigeria but also the rest of the world, especially the developed countries such as the USA and U.K.
“In Nigeria too, examination malpractice is exacerbated by the insatiable greed and desperate antics of parents who are hell-bent on inducting their innocent and not-so-innocent children into the world of sharp practices and corruption.
“Double registrations led to the cancellation of some results last year but we realised that this year not only double registrations but also multiple registrations were recorded.
“Someone for instance registered as many as 23 times for just a single examination.
” On impersonation, in the 2019 UTME, we were able to identify a large number of impersonators who have been writing UTME for candidates.
“Most of the tutorial masters specialise in recruiting such professional writers for the candidates. They do so by using the names directly or variants of the name or by multiple registrations.
“An example is Anambra State where two centres registered a large number of impersonating candidates. In such cases, the results of the candidates have been cancelled and the CBT centres delisted.
” We have also tracked the registration centres and the computers used. In cases where we were able to ascertain the culpability of the centres, we delisted them.”
According to the registrar, the fraudsters thought they could beat the system through ‘contributed fingers’ where two or more persons would use their fingers to register for candidates.
“Two examples of this case are in the Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare, where someone’s finger(s) was discovered in 42 person’s registration and Bauchi State University, Gadau, where one person’s is traced to the registration of 64 candidates.
“Another example was in Borno State where in Nassara Computer Academy Maiduguri 233 candidates had one particular finger included in each of their biometric registration.
“We have made representative arrests and we must thank the Inspector-General of Police and the Commandant-General of the NSCDC for their wonderful cooperation. The IGP actually set up a Special Task Force of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) which assisted tremendously in tracking the offenders.
Oloyede, however, noted that 116 centres had been delisted for various infractions saying that 18 of the 116 centres was previously sanctions by the governing board of JAMB.
He, therefore, assured universities of the boards commitment in sending biometrics and photo details of candidates to the universities for post UTME.
While announcing the results, he said about 1,792,719 candidates sat for the exams, while 34,120 candidates had their results withheld for examination malpractice.
Oloyede stated that 15,145 results were withheld for further clarification.
He, therefore, advised candidates to use the phone number used for registration and text it to 55019 to get their results instantly.
Business
Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D
The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.
The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.
In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”
The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.
The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.
Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.
In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.
Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.
Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.
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