Kaduna State governor Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai and the minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu have commissioned a 1,000-seater capacity Mega Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre in Kaduna which was self-sponsored by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
This is even as the duo commended the registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, for prudent management of resources, adding that the registrar has proven that Nigeria will progress if public institutions are manned by upright, honest and dedicated public servants.
The centre is the largest in West Africa with 4-units each of 275-seater capacity CBT centres and holding halls named after President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir El-Rufai respectively, with capacity to conduct Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 4,000 candidates per day. It was commissioned by the Kaduna State governor.
In his remarks, Governor El-Rufai assured JAMB that the incoming administration of Senator Uba Sani will continue to support the board to expand its facilities in Kaduna State.
According to the governor, “when we had that conversation about four years ago about the plan of JAMB to build this Professional Testing Centers, we did what we could to support Professor Oloyede in his effort at reforming JAMB. All we have done to wave any monetary compensation on this land, is in recognition of the good work that Oloyede is doing.”
The minister of education in his own address said the Professor Oloyede led JAMB had despite its huge remittances to the Federal Government coffers, remained a leading light in public project execution.
According to him, “The board has demonstrated capacity and determination and all it needs at this moment is the support of all. It is the prudent management of resources that opens the means for the Board to conceive the project and finance it to its completion. It is no longer news that the Board today is a leading light in the management of public resources given the number of projects it has executed despite its humongous remittances to the public coffers.”
The minister said the implementation of the computer-based test mode of assessing candidates is a brainchild of necessity but with so many advantages. “For a start, the CBT mode has largely eliminated the problem of examination misconduct, engendered faster release of results as well as enhanced the credibility of the entire assessment process and is in line with international best practices. Permit me to use this opportunity to commend JAMB for its tireless efforts in sanitizing the processes for admitting candidates into our tertiary institutions.”
Oloyede said, “Given the pivotal role of Kaduna, this project was conceived in 2018 and was initially designed to be a 500-capacity CBT centre. After the competitive bidding process, the Board approved the contract for the construction of a 500 (550 with the 10% backup) capacity Professional Test Centre (PTC) at the cost of N205,556,303.14 on the 13th May, 2019. Prior to the conception of the project, the 750-capacity in Owerri, Imo State, was the biggest PTC that the Board had embarked upon in the country.
“On a site visit to Kaduna, in October, 2021, Management observed that the 2 Holding Rooms were large enough to accommodate 2 extra centres. A review was thus made and the centres were adjusted to 1000 (actually 1,100) seater mega centre, each exclusively containing its 275 computers (for 250 candidates) per session at an updated cost of N306, 615, 715.31 but without Holding Halls. It was at that stage that H.E., Governor El- Rufai came to our rescue, at no cost to the Board.
“The Board was at a fix realising that there was no space to accommodate befitting Holding Halls for the mega centres unless the office block was demolished. We in desperation approached two of our immediate neighbours with a strange proposal to sell their identified two occupied buildings to us. We were prepared to make irresistible offer. The neighbours informed us that they were mere tenants of the Kaduna State government, hence the offer was made to the Government of Kaduna State through the then commissioner for education Dr. Shehu Usman Mohammed Makarfi.
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