2019 UTME registration deadline still sacrosanct –JAMB

THE governing board chairman of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Dr Emmanuel Aguzie, has said the organisation will likely close the registration of candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) as scheduled nationwide.

He stated this while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after touring some accredited Computer-Based Test centres in Lagos last week.

The registration is expected to close on February 21.

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Aguzie said he based his submission on his on-the-spot assessment of the registration exercise at the three randomly picked CBT centres, namely: Ha-Shem Academy, Iwaya, Yaba; ETC Nigeria Limited (TKK), Anthony, Ikorodu Road, and the Federal College of Education (Technical), Yaba, visited during the tour and which had registered at the time over 7,000; 2,300 and 5,000 candidates respectively.

He said he was satisfied with the level of performance of various CBT centres and the registration of candidates for the examination as a whole, not only in Lagos but also outside the state so far. He attributed the performance to the ban placed on cyber cafes from registering students for the examination and the use of only designated CBT centres for the exercise.

Both the CBT operators and candidates at the centres visited also described the registration exercise as hitch-free and seamless.

Aguzie explained that cyber cafes were banned because their operators always charged candidates above the official price despite their poor service, insisting that only N4,700 (N3,500 for examination, N500 for a guide book and N700 service charge) is the official charge by JAMB per candidate this year, and that every centre is expected to comply.

While the trio of the managing director of Ha-Shem Academy, Mrs Mojisola Sodunke; director at ETC Nig Limited, Mr Jibola Bankole, and Mr Ayinla Ahmed (technical officer) at the Federal College of Education (Technical) centre confirmed the smoothness of the exercise so far, they said they had no major hitches so far unlike past years when network service was usually poor.

But the situation at the Covenant University, Ota centre was not the same on Monday as those centres mentioned.

Scores of applicants were sent back home over what the university called ‘non-availability’ of materials to register them.

Except for a few who went to register for direct entry, those to sit for UTME were asked to come back at no definite date for their registrations.

A parent, who gave his name simply as Akin and took his son to the school to register, said he was told to drop his name and phone number with them in order to contact him whenever the materials are available.

But when contacted over the development, Head Editorial Covenant, Mr Oladipo Okunbajo, said he was not aware of the non-availability of materials.

He also even claimed that the ICT centre where the UTME registration is taking place (and the examination will also hold) is not being run directly by the university.

Mr Okunbajo promised to call back after finding out the details. He never did. When Tribune Education called back later, the university’s spokesman, Mr Ayo, received the call, saying “I think my colleague had already spoken to you and please, we’re in a busy period in the university,” and then ended the conversation abruptly.