From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cautioned parents against enrolling minors for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
It reminded parents that the law stipulates that a child must spend six years before primary school, spend six years in primary school and also spend six years in secondary school. By that time, the child must have clocked 18 years ready for university environment.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, gave the warning while reacting to a suit filed by one Mrs. Ifeanyi Eke, against the Board over alleged inappropriate text messages sent to her 15-year-old daughter during the cause of her registration for UTME.
He said that Mrs. Eke had filed a N100m suit against JAMB and three others before the Federal High Court in Lagos, over alleged unsolicited and inappropriate text messages sent to her 15-year-old daughter.
Prof. Oloyede, however, told journalists that the Board is ready to meet with the woman in court, maintaining that the sender of the message was not JAMB staff.
He said since the incident happened, JAMB reported to the security agencies to take appropriate action but the woman did not care, insisting on suing for N100 million at the expense of the child.
Prof. Oloyede said: “The person is not our staff nor a staff of the CBT centre. He is a co-student, a candidate, an undergraduate in one of the Universities. And talking about our database nobody has access to our database.
“The person, probably, got the information from the phone of the under age girl. How can 15 years old girl be ready for university environment if she is law abiding as claimed? The law stipulates that you spend six years before primary school, six years in primary school and six years in secondary school. By that time, you must have clocked 18 ready for university environment.
“But when you reduce three years, you must have cut corners to make a 15 year old child ready for university education. We will meet her in court, it is for the court to decide whether she deserve that money or not.”
The JAMB boss maintained that the person might have gotten the phone number of the victim at the CBT centre, perhaps, when they were filling forms, saying that it has dealt appropriately with the CBT centre for allowing unauthorized persons in their premises.
He continued: “Even the CBT centres do not have access to our database. So, the person must have picked the number while interacting with her at the CBT centre. However, we have sanctioned the CBT centre for negligence, for allowing unauthorized person access to where these candidates were. And we are urging parents to allow their children be matured before registering for UTME.”