Two officials of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board have been suspended by the Board, which also banned two candidates from its examinations for breaching precautionary measures put in place to check the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAMB, which announced the measures taken against its staff and the two students in its weekly bulletin published on its website on Monday, said “their suspension followed a surprise visit by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede to the Professional Testing Centre.”
The board stated that “the four individuals ran foul of the protocols when they refused to wear protective face masks provided to curtail the spread of the virus.”
It added that it had circulated series of advisories containing explicit instructions on the necessity of adhering to extant protocols.
“These advisories were not only aimed at mitigating the risk of contagion for individual staff but also to safeguard the lives of their fellow staff,” it said.
JAMB in a statement stated that “the suspension became necessary in order to send the right signal to all staff and clients alike that it will not tolerate any act that would expose people to unnecessary risks.
“The punitive action also underscored the seriousness with which the Board views adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
“The concerned staff would face the Board’s Disciplinary Committee. In addition, the Head of the Office under whose supervision the staff was working would also be queried for negligence and dereliction of duty for failure to adequately supervise the affected staff.
“All staff nationwide that the Board would not tolerate any violation of the extant protocols on COVID-19 and those supervisory officers would also be held responsible for non-enforcement and
non-compliance of staff who circumvent laid-down rules and regulations.
“All the measures put in place to protect staff from unnecessary exposure to the virus are all
user-friendly and wondered why anyone would want to expose him or herself and others to the virus.”
The board also enjoined all Directors, State Coordinators and Heads of Units to ensure strict compliance of both staff and clients.