NCC, JAMB in talk over special SIM card for students

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB are in talk over the provision of a specialised SIM card for students which would feature limited services.

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, made this disclosed.

Professor Oloyede, accentuating the mounting importance of candidates’ registered telephone numbers, underscored that these SIM cards have become indispensable for executing sensitive operations.

Addressing the media in Lagos on Monday, the Registrar revealed the novel procedure for admission acceptance.

He stated, “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 programme alterations) using their fingerprint at an authorised CBT centre or any JAMB office.

“These freshly devised methods for admission decisions are designed to safeguard the candidates’ information and maintain 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 candidates whose results from the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination were released by JAMB on Monday, seventy-seven percent scored below 200.