The Federal Government has been urged to control the price of scratch cards to prevent marketers from exploiting candidates in the name of selling and printing original JAMB results for candidates.
Some candidates told the in Keffi, Nasarawa State on Friday that business centres/cyber cafés charged candidates who want to print their JAMB original result between N1800 and N2000 per scratch card.
Mr James Usman, who sat for the Post Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examinations (UTME) at Nasarawa State University and College of Education, Akwanga, said the cost of scratch cards was exploitative.
“The university asked all candidates to print original JAMB result from the internet and when we went to cyber cafe, we bought each scratch card for N1500
“Most of the cyber cafés charged between N200 and 300 for the printing of original JAMB results. So, a total of N1800 is spent on buying and printing of JAMB original results by each candidate.
“For the UTME scratch card, the original amount is N1000. But why are cyber café operators taking advantage of JAMB’s original result demanded by the various institutions to screen UTME candidates to exploit us.
“We bought JAMB form with a lot of money, we bought scratch card to register for JAMB, we bought scratch card to check result, we bought scratch card to register for post UTME and we finally paid money for the post UTME screening to institutions”, he stated.
He appealed to the federal government and JAMB to intervene in the cost of admission process to make education affordable to the children of the common people.
Another UTME candidate, Mr Isah Abdul, appealed to the management of business centres in the state to be reasonable with their prices when selling post UTME scratch cards
“When I went for post UTME examination and screening at the College of Education, Akwanga, candidates were buying JAMB scratch cards for between N1800 and N2000. This is in addition to fees for the printing of original JAMB results.
“This amounts to exploitation and cheating of candidates by business centres/cyber cafe operators.
“They take advantage of the screening and we have no option because without the JAMB original result, one will not be screened”, he stated.
Another UTME candidate, Solomon Chukwu, said: "the federal government/JAMB has to do something to check unnecessary increase in the cost of UTME scratch cards and fees charged by various institutions for the post-UTME screening."
He stated that such measures would not only make education affordable but also reduce the burden on parents towards the education of their children.