UTME: JAMB Sanctions Officials for Inappropriate Check of Hijab-wearing Candidate

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has sanctioned some of its officials for asking a candidate wearing hijab to remove her head cover during the accreditation process before being allowed into the examination hall.

JAMB’s Public Communications Advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement on Sunday that the incident occurred at Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos.

According to Fabian, the sanctions were necessary 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,” he said.

The JAMB spokesman expressed the Board’s deep regrets over the incident, stating that upon investigation, it discovered that the incident or others in the past, was 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 its guidelines on accreditation.

He said JAMB’s guidelines on accreditation ensures that all candidates are screened, allowing only female officials to screen female candidates before allowing them to gain entrance into the hall.

He however noted that the situation was promptly addressed by one of its senior officials 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,” he said.

The statement further expressed JAMB’s commitment “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”.

It added that: ”The conduct 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.”