The Imo State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Owerri, said it had arrested 12 illegal Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination registration operators.
According to the agency, the suspects were arrested in Owerri, Okigwe and Orlu areas of the state for accepting money above the N4,700 official rate for the examination.
Briefing journalists on Monday, the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr Raji Ibrahim, said the operators were arrested at different times.
Ibrahim stated that the illegal charges varied from one Computer Based Testing centre to the other.
He said, “There were those who charged and collected N7,500, while others charged and collected N5,500 against the Federal Government’s official rate of N4,700. This is affecting parents and guardians who are paying for this examination.”
He stated that the arrests would be a deterrent to people who might want to extort money from members of the public.
One of the suspects, Mr Innocent Dike, said the rates were based on operations, which differed from one CBT centre to the other.
He said, “We collect N500 for ‘Sweet 16 novel’. The accredited CBT centre is allowed to take N700 for registration. In my case, the extra N800 is because before you can vend e-pin, you must have a valid email address and profile code. We credit the email with N300, while the extra N500 is to transport the candidate from my office to the accredited CBT centre.”
Another suspect, Miss Ngozi Eke, said the increment was for logistics.
“We use the money to direct them on how to fill the forms,” she added.
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