4th November, 2010
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has restrained the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), for engaging the services of two Information Technology companies, Sidmach Technologies and Electronic Test Company Limited, for the 2011 UTME or any other year.
The order issued by Justice Okechukwu Okeke, is to be in force pending the hearing and determination of the suit instituted against JAMB and the two companies.
The court’s order was sequel to an application filed and argued by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Joseph Nwobike, on behalf of three companies, S.W. Global Limited, Fleet Technologies and Global Portal Services, serving as members of Compt Consortium.
In an affidavit sworn to by the General Manager of S.W. Global Limited, Tunde Sosina, the deponent averred that Compt Consortium and JAMB are parties to the Information Technology services agreement dated 12 February, 2009, by which the plaintiffs were authorised to provide the sole platform for the converged examination management technology for all examinations conducted by JAMB and other bodies under the Federal Ministry of Education.
However, Mr. Sosina averred further that despite the existence of this contractual agreement in force and which is still binding, JAMB now wants to award part of the contract to Sidmach Technologies Limited and Electornic Test Company Limited.
After listening to the argument and submission of Dr. Nwobike (SAN), Justice Okechukwu Okeke restrained the defendants and their agents from retaining the services of the two defendant companies for the registration of 2011 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in any year during the pending of the suit.
The matter has been adjourned till 8 November, 2010, when the hearing will commence.
