With over 600,000 candidates yet to be registered to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), says it will review its earlier date set for the 2021examantions.
This is to give room for many candidates who are yet to register to do so and take the exams.
Prof Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of JAMB, disclosed this on Friday in an interview. He maintained that 600,000 candidates who have indicated interest to participate in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, will not be left out of the examination.
The earlier dates scheduled for the examination are between June 5 and 19.
The JAMB Registrar declared “so far, 1.1 million candidates have registered for the 2021 UTME, but the board anticipates approximately 1.9 million registrations at the end of the exercise, saying that even though 50 per cent of candidates have already registered without problem, there was need to carry everyone along.
He therefore submitted that after meeting with stakeholders, they will decide on whether to shift the exam forward or not.
His word, “The possibility of shifting the exam forward is still high; but that will be determine after our meeting with stakeholders. This is because about 6000 candidates who have indicated interest in the exam are yet to register. There is need to give everyone the opportunity”.
Oloyede apologized for the new initiatives introduced in the 2021 UTME and noted that it was not to punish candidates, but to rather exposed candidates in the habit of indulging in various forms of malpractices.
The examination body, which is responsible for the conduct of the entrance examination into the nation’s tertiary institutions, will ensure that candidates will provide two pictures in the exam script. Pictures of the candidate for the exam and of persons who register for NIN.
The JAMB boss asked candidates to take note of the process and that the essence was to dictate any disparity in the process.
He also apologised for putting making some candidates go through unbearable hardship in the registration, disclosing that the federal government directed that anyone participating in JAMB must have their NIN.
“This is beyond our control. Those who are yet to register should do so. The Mock exam is bill to come up on Thursday. It is an exam meant to test out capability. As you all know, the main exam is coming up on June 5 and 19 2021’, he revealed.
Oloyede added, “Shifting the exam date is not the solution, at the meeting we will discuss on how some of the problems encountered by candidates would be resolved. It is important that we carry everyone along.
“JAMB has secured about 802 exam centres across the country and 104 centres in towns. Lagos state alone has four centres.
Uche Nwosu is a two time Shell Petroleum PLC award winner in the year 2000;
He won the Shell Award on Investigative Journalism and Environmental Cleanliness.
