Without a strong political will, Nigeria cannot be able to implement a single identity management system.

This was the argument of Dr. Yusuf Lawal, Director of Test Administration at the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), when he delivered a paper titled, “Quality Assurance in the Administration of Online Students’ Assessment,” at the monthly webinar of the Association for Innovative Technology Integration in Education (AITIE).

As was contained in PRNigeria, Dr. Lawal, stressed that the adoption of a single identity will go a long way in eliminating impersonation during Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) tests, and other public examinations.

According to him, many ‘hired’ examination writers substitute their personal details with those of real candidates after helping the later to secure admissions.

Dr. Lawal, recalled the effort of JAMB Board to collaborate with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), in adopting the National Identity Number (NIN), all personal data of prospective candidates and the biometrics already captured by NIMC for registration of UTME and Direct Entry applicants, in the ‘suspended’ 2020 admission exercise.

The JAMB Director, explained that if their effort had been successful, it would have ultimately led to a management of single identity database system in the country.

He said: “I believed other examination bodies such as NECO, WAEC and NABTEB would have been encouraged to adopt the same system and the tertiary institutions would not also need to capture fresh data of successful candidates at the point of registration, after their admission.”

Lawal, then called on the government to ensure that the implementation of a single identity is given the required political bite, whereby the NIN would be made compulsory for every of services to be offered to all strata of Nigerians.

“There is need to expeditiously prosecute persons who engage in examination malpractice so as to deter mercenaries who are hired to impersonate for candidates of various public examinations such as WAEC, NECO, JAMB, and NABTEB, among others,” he said.