By SIMON EBEGBULEM

THE authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), yesterday, said it has concluded arrangements to deploy biometric data capturing technology for both staff and students of the institution.

The fingerprint capture exercise, according to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Godwin Oshodin, the first of its kind by any Nigerian university, was put in place by UNIBEN to monitor numerical strength of staff and students of the institution and to resolve the issue of paying wages to non-existing workers.

According to him, staff and students of the university will automatically receive transaction information on their phones or special e-mail addresses, at the completion of registration.

The VC described as an exercise in futility, making plans for the needs of a large population without certainty of figure  as an  exercise in futility, saying the biometric exercise was a conception of his administration, as a means of addressing identified problems.

He said, “The implication of this is that the exercise will no doubt enhance our presence in the international scene, bearing in mind that at the last webometrics ranking of universities in the world, UNIBEN was ranked number one in Nigeria and 20 in the Africa.

“Other benefits of the exercise include elimination of ghost workers, as perpetrated in some departments, culminating in the flushing out of bad eggs in the salaries and wages unit.

“It will also help to generate accurate statistics of students which will help eliminate the issue of fake students, and by extension, ameliorate impersonation among students at examinations.”