The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has sanctioned some of its accredited officials for demanding that a candidate donning hijab remove her headcover before being allowed into the examination hall.
According to a statement by JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin on Sunday in Abuja, the Board deeply regretted the incident and, on investigation discovered, that it is not linked to any of its examination guidelines but rather a product of the misplaced priority of some of its accredited partners or officials who claimed ignorance of the Board’s guidelines on accreditation, which ensures that all candidates are screened allowing only female officials to screen female candidates before allowing them to gain entrance into the hall.
The statement said the situation which occurred at the Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos was instantly addressed by a senior official of the Board at the centre and the candidate in question allowed in after the usual checks with her hijab.
“However, since ignorance of the law is not an excuse, the officials have been appropriately sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others, who might wish to toe the same line going forward.
“Its worthy of note that the Board, as a national institution, has no policy barring candidates from sporting the religious paraphernalia peculiar to their religious persuasions as these are the facts of everyday life in Nigeria, which everyone should have been familiar with by now.
“Furthermore, the Board assures the general public that this issue would be properly investigated, as it had done in past incidents, to prevent a recurrence and nothing would be swept under the carpet.
Benjamin said the Board is committed to the discharge of its statutory role of ensuring that suitably-qualified candidates are selected for admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions and would not allow anything or anyone to detract it from the pursuit of this noble goal.
He also added that the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which commenced on Friday, 19th April, 2024, had been seamless as over 1.2million candidates would have successfully taken the examination by Monday, 22nd April, 2024.
