CBT Centre Owners in Oyo send SOS to NASS on JAMB exam funding

Operators and owners of Computer Based Test (CBT) centers in Oyo State have appealed to the National Assembly to help them persuade the management of Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to increase the cost of conducting the examination for candidates in view of the present economic hardship.

The operators while speaking with journalists on condition of anonymity, lamented the cost of materials being used in conducting the examination on yearly basis, stressing that the business is far from being profitable to them, whereas the government enjoys the lion share of the business.

A CBT owner in Oyo town said, “Since 2020/2021, the management of JAMB has been paying us N700 per candidate to supervise and conduct their exams, and it was still the same N700 that the body was paying us up till last year. The book that was N500 two years ago is now N1,000. As they increase JAMB form for candidates, they do not increase the price for registration. Price of petrol has increased, just as the pay for our staff has also increased. We cannot pay them the same amount we paid them in 2022 or 2023. Removal of fuel subsidy has made everything to become costlier than the past years.

“The money we spend on our computer systems and the hall where we assemble them is massive. We have entered into it and we cannot now say that we are discontinuing. When we consider the cost of infrastructure to construct cubicles and equip them with computer systems; construct server room, install server, it is not easy to now say one does not want to do it again. I must confess that as CBT owners, we are not finding it comfortable at all. How many years can one recoup the money invested into the system with this N700 mobilisation fund from JAMB, let alone making gains? Systems get damaged on yearly basis and we must buy more to replace them. JAMB management also knows this.

“Last year, JAMB increased the form from N800 to N1,500. For registration, we must buy petrol to lighten the hall while registering the candidates. Even some of us that are using solar, it is still expensive to maintain for such large number of candidates. We use dual screen and our staff board vehicles to and fro with the cost of transport increased. This year, we need compensation from the government to ease our job.

“Our plea to the Senate and the House of Representatives is that they should help us work with the JAMB Registrar to at least increase the registration money given to us to N1,500 per candidate. N1,000 is no longer sufficient.Cost of A4 paper we use to print is not the same as it was in 2021, 2022 and now. It has even tripled. Cost of all the equipment we use including printers, has increased astronomically compared to yesteryears. It is not compulsory that cost of buying JAMB form be increased for candidates. Fine, JAMB is generating revenue for the government through such, but they should not be starving we CBT centre owners who are their partners in progress”.

Speaking further, she said, “To assemble about 275 computer systems in a big hall is not a small investment. Some people who feel that the level of profitability in the business is very high, are building halls to join. It is after they get into it that they see the reality. We want the intervention of the NASS in this regard, lest we continue to run the business at la oss for the government.”

Another CBT Centre owner in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, on his part, said “the money being released to us per candidate is really insufficient for the exams in this present economy, if we are to maintain the standard. When we consider cost of fueling our generators, cost of security, hiring of trained personnel and other personnel, N1,500 is even insufficient. I therefore plead with the management of JAMB and particularly Prof. Ishaq Oloyede that the money for the examination be increased to N2,000 per candidate. It is when such is done that we can break even in the business.”