JAMB REGISTRAR MOVES TO SERVICOM DESK, CLEARS 5,000 BACKLOGS IN FIVE DAYS -Aina takes hands-on approach complaints, orders holistic resolutions. By Beauty Akporido Aroh

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Segun Aina, has taken an unusual hands-on approach to resolving candidates’ complaints, relocating his seat to the Board’s SERVICOM Unit and personally overseeing the clearance of more than 5,000 pending cases within five days.

The move, according to findings, is part of the Registrar’s broader drive to reposition JAMB as a more responsive, efficient and candidate-centred institution, particularly at a time when thousands of young Nigerians depend on the Board for access to tertiary education.

Rather than merely issuing directives from his office, Aina chose to sit with the SERVICOM team to gain first-hand insight into the nature and complexity of complaints brought by candidates and other clients of the Board.

The development is also closely linked to the second of the Registrar’s “Five Enduring Pillars”, which he describes as “Service at Heart.” The pillar underscores his commitment to ensuring that candidates receive services commensurate with the fees they pay and that avoidable bureaucratic bottlenecks do not frustrate their educational aspirations.

Sources familiar with the development told Paradigm News that the Registrar directed SERVICOM Desk Officers to go beyond merely receiving complaints, insisting that cases must be investigated holistically and resolved promptly.

The directive has already produced measurable results, with more than 5,000 previously pending and unresolved complaints reportedly cleared in just five days.

The cases handled by the team cut across a wide spectrum of problems confronting candidates.

One major category involved candidates who were unable to create profile codes because they had previously registered with telephone numbers to which they no longer had access. Such cases, which could potentially prevent affected candidates from accessing JAMB services, were subjected to individual scrutiny.

Biometric verification challenges also featured prominently among the complaints. Some candidates who experienced biometric failures during UTME registration or the examination were identified as genuine cases requiring intervention.

Aina also turned his attention to the operations of JAMB’s Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), where several admission-related challenges were examined and resolved.

These included cases involving candidates who had lost their phones or SIM cards, candidates who changed from Direct Entry (DE) to UTME, as well as graduates whose names were omitted from the National Matriculation List.

The intervention also extended to payment-related complaints, e-PIN issues, inappropriate examination venues, technical difficulties and problems associated with uploading required documents.

Other longstanding complaints, including requests involving changes to names, dates of birth, states and local government areas, were also examined as part of the exercise.

The development marks a significant shift towards a more direct approach to service delivery at JAMB, with the Registrar demonstrating that complaints should not simply accumulate in administrative channels but should be tracked through to resolution.

His decision to physically relocate to the SERVICOM Unit has therefore been interpreted as both an administrative intervention and a statement of intent about the direction of his leadership.

The Registrar’s approach is anchored on the principle that service delivery must remain at the heart of JAMB’s operations, particularly given the critical role the Board plays in determining access to Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

With thousands of complaints already cleared within days, attention is now focused on whether the new hands-on approach can be institutionalised across the Board and sustained beyond the immediate backlog-clearing exercise.

For millions of prospective university, polytechnic and college students who interact with JAMB each year, the significance may ultimately lie not merely in the number of complaints resolved, but in how quickly and fairly future complaints are handled.

The Registrar’s intervention suggests that, under the new administration, candidate service is increasingly being treated not as an administrative afterthought, but as a core responsibility of the Board.