The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says cases of people having double national identification numbers (NIN) made impersonation possible in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The statement from the exam body came after a father and his son were arrested for alleged impersonation in the ongoing UTME.

The father, whose name has not been disclosed, was said to have impersonated his son to help the latter pass the university entrance examination.

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday.

Oloyede inspected the Kaduna State University (KASU) Computer Based Test (CBT) centre after which he spoke to the press.

He said it is unfortunate that some parents have descended so low in morals to the extent of resorting to such shameful acts.

“Two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will tell his son when they are locked in the same cell,” Oloyede said.

Oloyede said the 2024 examination recorded huge success, except for a few cases of impersonation.

He said impersonation became possible because some people now have multiple NINs.

“For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that. Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation,” he said.

“For instance now, we say we have NIN. We now have cases of people with two NINs. That has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We will take that up with NIMC; that there are people who have two NIN.”

Oloyede said a total of 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 UTME.

He added that those who have missed the exam for reasons not caused by JAMB should forget about it.

The registrar said the board cannot spend millions to reorganise a session for candidates who missed it due to their recklessness.

“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB, They would now put 30 students in one bus,” he said.

“They will now be dropping them in different locations. By they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam. You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?

“Even a religious body wrote to me that ‘the following 100 candidates, I want them to write their exams on a particular day of the examination’. They were even deciding for me the school to post the candidates. How is that possible?”

Babagana Zulum, the Borno governor, has approved the appointment of Haruna Dlakwa as the acting vice-chancellor (VC) of Borno State University in Maiduguri.

Bukar Tijani, secretary to the state government, confirmed Dlakwa’s appointment in a statement on Wednesday.

Tijani said the appointment followed the recommendation of the university’s governing council at its 10th meeting on April 15.

‘’Zulum extends warm congratulations to Dlakwa and expects the best until the substantive Vice-Chancellor is appointed for the university,’’ he said.

Until this appointment, Dlakwa was the deputy vice-chancellor of academics at the university.

Borno State University was only established in 2016. It has five faculties — including Sciences, Management, Arts, Social Science and Education — with over 20 departments.

The pioneer vice chancellor of the university was Umar Kyari Sandabe.

In June 2021, the university’s senate building was inaugurated by Muhammadu Buhari, former president of Nigeria.

The acting Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Prof Razaq Kalilu, has announced the introduction of an additional six new degree programmes for the institution.

Kalilu made this known while addressing the congregation at the grand finale of the 16th convocation ceremony of the university, held inside the Great Hall of the institution in Ogbomoso on Tuesday.

He stressed that the academic outlook of the institution was rapidly changing in its bid to fulfil the mandate of the university and the vision of its Visitor, Governor Seyi Makinde.

The VC said, “A year ago, the university established the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with four academic programmes. This year, we have introduced six additional new degree programmes into that Faculty namely Psychology, Mass Communication, Linguistics, Yoruba, Theatre Arts, and Political Science. A Faculty of Law has also been established to run a degree programme in law.

“All the seven newly introduced programmes have recently gone through Resource Verification, in March this year towards the National Universities Commission’s approval. We hope to admit students for these programmes in this current academic session as soon as we receive the clearance from the NUC.” He stated.

In his address, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Prof Ayodeji Omole charged the graduands to be good ambassadors for the university.

“As you receive your degrees, remember that you are not just graduates of LAUTECH, but ambassadors of knowledge, integrity, excellence, service and progress, all that your university stands for. Carry the torch of learning with pride and let your actions speak volumes about the calibre of education you have received.” Omole advised.