Officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Command, have arrested eight persons for allegedly operating fake Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration centres in the state.
The suspects, who the NSCDC said were not officially accredited by JAMB as agents, allegedly used their illegal outlets to extort money from unsuspecting Nigerians seeking admission into universities in the country.
The Commandant of the NSCDC, Lagos State Command, Cyprian Otoibhi, gave the names of the suspects, who were paraded at the Command Headquarters, Alausa, Ikeja, as Oluwaseun Bamiro, Subair Ilyas Adewale, Segun Oshikoya, Faith Victor, Olayinka Oluwashina, Elvis Okorafor, Luckson Igwoku and Olufemi Ajetunmobi.
Otoibhi said the suspects, instead of collecting the stipulated N4,700, had been collecting between N6,500 and N8000 from candidates.
He said the Commandant-General of the Corps, Abdullahi Haba Muhammadu, had directed all Commands to identify and fish out operators of illegal JAMB registration centres across the country who had been exploiting Nigerians seeking admission into institutions of higher learning.
He said that upon receipt of the directive, the Lagos Command posted at some centres plain-clothes officials of the Corps to pose as prospective JAMB candidates.
“These officials went to different centres posing as JAMB candidates. At the fake centres, the undercover officials of the NSCDC told the operators they would like to register for JAMB and the operators collected N8,000 from them.
“The operators were arrested after the fact that they were charging more than the stipulated amount approved by government had been established against them,” he added.
One of the suspects, Ajetumobi Olufemi, 28, proprietor of Achievers Educate, Agboju, said that the additional amount his centre was charging was for services rendered. “I don’t register candidates for JAMB. I only advise them on courses to fill and later direct them to an approved centre,” he added.
