By Busari Kabirat
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), had on Wednesday, publicly made it known that the female candidate who was requested to remove her hijab preceding the sitting for her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in Lagos did not underuse any of her required time to write the exams.
The incident which happened at Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos, the female candidate was told by JAMB officials to remove her hijab during the accreditation process before she was allowed into the examination hall.
However, there were many reports that the lady was not allowed into the examination hall until 30 minutes after the examination started and this has triggered calls for compensation.
JAMB, reacting in an issued statement by Fabian Benjamin, its spokesperson, on Wednesday said, the report is an error, he said it was a “misleading narrative aimed at inflaming passion and exacerbating an already-settled issue”.
Statement reads, “It is worthy of note that the incident had been thoroughly investigated by the Board and we could, therefore, state categorically that the candidate’s time was not affected in any way.
“The Board perceives examination as a reflection of a candidate’s performance, especially when such a candidate is not deprived of any privilege or right.
“Therefore, the little drama associated with the entrance of Ms. Tiamiyu Ayisat Morenikeji into the examination venue has no effect on her time, space or anything related to her schedule as it happened within the time allotted to the biometric verification of candidates earmarked for a particular session and had, therefore, not even gained ingress into her final destination, the examination hall.
“It is on record that the Board’s examination officials comprising the team centre officials, the supervisor, technical staff, biometric verification officer and other officials, acted promptly to address the situation and the candidate was allowed to undergo other necessary processes preparatory to taking her examination in good time”.
