The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are exploring the possibility of providing a specialized SIM card for students which would feature limited services.
Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), had made this disclosure, stating that the increasing importance of candidates’ registered telephone numbers, highlighted that these SIM cards have become indispensable for executing sensitive operations.
While addressing the media in Lagos on Monday, the Registrar disclosed the novel procedure for admission acceptance.
What they’re saying:
“A candidate may either transmit ACCEPT or REJECT via their dedicated telephone line to 55019/66019, or personally endorse or decline any offer of admission (inclusive of program alterations) using their fingerprint at an authorised CBT centre or any JAMB office.
Oloyede had also said that newly devised methods for admission decisions are designed with the protection of a candidates’ credentials in mind as well as the integrity of the admission process.
“With the introduction of this method, the significance of the candidates’ registered telephone (SIM) has escalated, as it is now pivotal for conducting increasingly sensitive operations. We are currently in negotiations with the NCC to establish dedicated SIMs for students with restricted functionalities.”
Out of the 1,842,464 registered candidates whose results from the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination were released by JAMB on Monday, 77% had scored below 200.
Why it matters:
With a growing dependency on telecommunications for important purposes, ensuring the availability and security of candidates’ telephone lines is of great importance.
- Enhanced Security: Providing students with specialized SIM cards for their JAMB-related activities can help promote security and safeguard sensitive information. This is because the SIM card will have limited functionalities as it will be tailored specifically for admissions processes, hence, the risk of unauthorized access or misuse of personal data is limited.
- Efficient Communication: A dedicated SIM card for students can help ease the communication process between candidates and JAMB authorities. By allowing candidates to transmit acceptance or rejection of admission offers directly via their registered telephone lines, the process becomes faster and accessible, reducing delays and likely errors.
- Addressing Exam Performance: The statistics revealed by JAMB regarding the performance of candidates in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination highlight the need for innovative solutions to help candidates who did not perform excellently in the exams. For this problem, having special SIM cards can help as the examination body can directly reach out to the affected candidate with solutions on how they can improve.
Bottom line:
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are exploring the possibility of introducing specialized SIM cards for students. This initiative will likely boost security, streamline communication, and address poor performances among candidates.
