JAMB officials, candidates clash over N100 fees

Crisis erupted at the office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Lokoja, Kogi State yesterday, when candidates for the university matriculation examination engaged staff of the board in a brawl over purported plan to charge fees other than the approved amount.

Daily Trust gathered that trouble started when the candidates were asked to pay N100 each to check for their examination centres.

It was gathered that the candidates who besieged the board’s office in their hundreds engaged officials in a free for all fight. Our correspondent reports that the candidates also brought down the gate to the office.

One of the candidates, who craved anonymity, told Daily Trust that after purchasing the JAMB form from the board, they were asked them to register at their office with an additional N700.

He said normally, the registration is done online, ‘‘but because they wanted to extort N700 from each of us, they asked us to come to their office and we did. Now, we want to check for our centers and get print-outs for the Saturday computer based test and they are asking us to pay N100 each, after collecting N700 from us”.

State Coordinator of JAMB, Mr. Daniel Agbo, sort the assistance of members of the Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who are located close to the office to disperse the candidates.

When journalists visited the office, a staff of the board who refused to disclose her name said the state coordinator was not around.

She also refused to comment on the issue, saying the coordinator is the one to speak on it.