JUST IN: JAMB Announces USSD Code For UTME Registration

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has concluded plans to introduce the use of USSD code as an option to the SMS process of generating a profile code for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration.
Oloyede stated that the latest development was part of measures the board had put in place to address some challenges experienced by candidates, noting that the use of the USSD code would commence from April 30.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has concluded plans to introduce the use of USSD code as an option to the SMS process of generating a profile code for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration.

The JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, made the disclosure during a briefing at the board’s headquarters in Abuja on Monday.

Oloyede stated that the latest development was part of measures the board had put in place to address some challenges experienced by candidates, noting that the use of the USSD code would commence from April 30.

The JAMB boss added that the board had received complaints especially from parents of candidates who had tried to register their children and wards all to no avail.

He further stated that the service providers had continued to extort UTME candidates by deducting N50 SMS charges at each trial to generate a profile without a positive response.

“Parents are being extorted when sending requests unsuccessfully and at the end, nothing comes or is delayed by network and yet, N50 is being charged and deducted.

“You must note that these charges do not come to JAMB but to the service providers. Therefore, we have asked all those concerned to go back and ensure that where a service is not fully rendered and charges were deducted, such monies should be refunded to the candidates.

“JAMB do not have the capacity to enforce this refund or monitor compliance but we are expanding our stakeholders to include Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to do it.

“They will join our task force to check on any act of extortion, while we also invite Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to monitor and check on these service providers.

“Another option we are creating asides sending an SMS to 55019 to generate a profile code will include dialing 550191*NIN#. This will, however, take effect from Friday, April 30,” the JAMB boss said.

Oloyede, who expressed dissatisfaction over candidates’ inability to follow the right procedure for the registration, said the board had agreed to accommodate common errors made during the exercise.

He added that some of the errors were candidates mistakenly sending ‘NIN’ with no space before typing the actual number.

The JAMB boss further said that candidates, who had registered for UTME in the previous year, could also generate a code with the same telephone number following the 2021 process of generating a profile code.

Oloyede explained that the only difference between the previous registration process and that of this year was the inclusion of NIN.