THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Friday commenced the conduct of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) nationwide with technical glitches in some Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres.
The Board, however, appealed to candidates affected in such centres to remain calm as all of them would be rescheduled to sit the examination at appropriate time.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyode, who made the appeal while fielding questions from newsmen after monitoring the exercise in one of the Board’s CBT centres in Kogo, Bwari, Abuja, said he envisaged such challenges in the first day of the UTME giving the level of technological development in the country.
More than 1.9 million candidates who registered for the UTME would participate in the examination from Friday 19th April to April 29th holding in over 750 CBT centres across the nation.
The JAMB Registrar noted the examination went on smoothly across the country except one centre that had been reported to have encountered issues.
“We appeal to the public to understand this, some centres will fail. I have heard of only one centre that has failed today.
“By the end of today, I expect about 10 per cent of the centres to have one problem or the other because we know the level of development in different parts of the country.
“We are not encouraging this, but when it happens, please do not disrupt others.
“It is important to note that when a session fails because of a problem, you cannot bring those candidates to do session two, they will have to step aside, and the headquarters will have to be contacted.
“The earliest time they can be scheduled will be after 4:30 p.m. so that those slated for sections two and three can write, and these candidates can now write for session four, and in some cases, they can even be scheduled for the following day,” he said.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the early conduct of the examination at Al-Mizyan Schools Computer Based Centre in Ikotun, Lagos State, was marred with technical glitches leaving the candidates scheduled for the first session stranded for some time.
However, in some centres monitored in Abuja, Kogo CBT centre, Bwari, the examination went on smoothly including the biometric verification of candidates and their orderly conduct. Parents also heeded the warning from JAMB and stayed meters away from the examination venue as instructed by the Board’s Registrar, Prof. Oloyede.
Some of the candidates slated for the 8 a.m. examination expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination, urging the Board to sustain the tempo.
Speaking further during monitoring of the examination in Abuja, Oloyede warned candidates against involvement in examination malpractice, saying any candidate caught would regret it.
He also revealed that new measures have been put in place the checkmate examination malpractice, a technology, the JAMB Registrar said has been worked upon in the last seven years.
He advised candidates to be upright in their dealings and to stop patronising fraudsters.
He said: “Today’s examination is very important to us because we have done some engineering that we have been trying to do in the last seven years that we only become successful about it today for the first time.
“Those who are fraudsters, who are doing all sorts of things, they know that they are in trouble because, for the first time, we are able to do certain things that we have been aspiring to do.
“We have found out that some of the candidates are giving their details to fraudsters, and fortunately, we thank the security agencies as they have been marvellously good to us.
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“Almost all the persons that have been doing this (fraudulent activities) are already in their nets. I won’t want to mention the numbers but I’m very happy to tell you that they are in the nets.
“We thank the Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services, Director-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp, and the Nigerian Police Force National CyberCrime Centre.”
He labeled some of the tutorial classes as centres for corruption and examination malpractices, saying parents who are going to pay money to them for examination questions would only end up being defrauded because they could only deceive them.
“Most of the tutorial centres are owned by dropouts. They are not tutoring anything. They are centres for corruption, examination malpractice; I can beat my chest and I have the facts. Somebody who does not have how can he give?”.
Oloyede explained that the strict measures put in place for enrolment of candidates for Direct Entry was to check the use of fake A’Level certificates by candidates to secure admission into universities, which he said was menace in the country.
The JAMB boss alleged that some of the instititutions including universities, award reckless diplomas to students to make people avoid UTME.
He argued that the 6-3-3-4 system of education does not accommodate A’Level, saying this was why JAMB is saying that if candidates with A’Level would be tolerated, they should not be more than 10 per cent. He insisted that a situation where more 30 to 40 per cent want to come in through Direct Entry would not be allowed.
He also advised owners of CBT centres to keep their place secure by ensuring that non-candidates and parents keep their distance from the CBT centres.
The Supervisor-in-charge of JAMB Professional Centre, Kogo in Bwari, Fatimah Abba, said there were no technical issues recorded.
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