The New Initiative for Credible Leadership has urged the Federal Government to adopt the Computer Based Test (CBT) introduced by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) across board for all government examinations and recruitment tests.
A statement issued by the New Initiative for Credible Leadership’s Executive Secretary, Samson Onwu explained that the confirmation by stakeholders that CBT has successfully checked examination fraud in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) is proof that the method is the innovative way to go.
The statement noted that the doubts that usually accompany government examinations and job tests would be a thing of the past if CBT is adopted since the method has proven trustworthy enough to result in the abolition of post-UMTE tests that tertiary institutions used to conduct.
It said, “We know that the results of Common Entrance Examination into secondary schools and Unity School entrance examinations usually have acceptability issues since examination fraud has spread even to that level of education and we believe that what the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde has done with CBT for UMTE should be introduced at that level.
“The CBT could also help end the rowdiness usually associated with written interviews for government jobs since Nigerian youths usually apply in their hundreds of thousands. JAMB successfully conducted the UMTE for over 1.5million candidates using CBT without the kind of stampede that had claimed lives in government job interviews. This makes CBT a lifesaving alternative to the existing system. It can be applied for the competency test before recruitment processes move to the next stage.
“We are certain that the corrupt tendencies like cheating, favouritism and nepotism that plague examination and government recruitment processes would become things of the past with the adoption of this system,” the statement said.
The group further stressed that what the Professor Ojerinde led JAMB has done is a testimony to the fact that the organisatio can handle such assignment in addition to its mandate of conducting entrance examination for tertiary schools.
It suggested that “JAMB should partner with the Federal Character Commission and recruitment agencies to give Nigerians confidence in the numerous initiatives that President Muhammadu Muhammadu has introduced in the implementation of the change agenda.
“This will also ensure that the infrastructure for CBT are in use all year round with continuous opportunity for improvement based on experience from each examination or test conducted,” it stated.
