JAMB Sanctions Officials for Barring Hijab-wearing Candidate from UTME Site
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 their 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.
“It’s 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, the board discovered that the incident or others in the past, is not linked to any of its examination guidelines but rather a product of the misplaced priority of some of the Board’s accredited partners or officials who claimed ignorance of the Board’s 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 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,” he said.
