JAMB: Plateau parents lament costly scratch card

Some parents and guardians in Plateau have described as “exorbitant,” the N1, 500 they were being charged by JAMB for scratch card to access the examination result.

The parents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Jos, Pakshin and other towns of Plateau accused the examination body of extorting money from students and parents with all manners of charges.

“The charges are strange. Last year, we used the JAMB registration number to check the scores. We were not expecting something different this year,’’ Mr. Gotong Nanman, a parent told NAN in Pankshin.

He said he was very surprised when his niece brought the request to him, and alleged that JAMB was not sensitive to the harsh realities facing poor Nigerians.

Nanman recalled that he spent N5,000 to purchase the JAMB form, and another N1,500 was a huge burden, especially since there was a mass failure this year.

Another parent, Mrs. Angela Gomos, a staff of the NYSC office in Jos, said that the charges the board was imposing on parents were “uncalled for considering the amount spent in registering the candidates.”

“We were expecting the board to be considerate; if they were going to insist on any scratch card, we believe that it should not have been more than N200,’’ she said.

She noted that aside the JAMB charge, about N500 would be spent to browse the results in cyber cafés.

Another parent, Mr. Danjuma Dumak, argued that JAMB was making billions of naira since more than one million candidates sat for the university admission test.

He urged the Federal Government to intervene to save poor people from such pains since many parents had consistently registered for the examinations in the last five years.

“The National Assembly should also ask JAMB to explain what is happening. They (law makers) represent us and should intervene in this matter,’’ he said.