The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has disclosed that the board is considering conducting a second 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for candidates facing setbacks due to the National Identification Number (NIN) inclusion.
It explained that the consideration was in line with the board commitment to ensuring that Nigerian students desirous of tertiary education were being given an equal opportunity.
The examination board also hinted that the consideration of the second examination would be conducted for candidates with genuine registration challenges.
Monitoring the profiling of candidates with 2021 UTME registration challenges yesterday, in Lagos, the JAMB Registrar Is-haq Oloyede, said 17, 758 candidates with registration challenges have been profiled, nationwide.
“At the end of the entire exercise, we may have to conduct another examination for those with genuine cases after the main UTME slated for June 19 to July 3,” said Oloyede.
The JAMB boss said his interaction with candidates revealed that the reasons for the late registration ranged from inability to get the NIN on time and inadequate funds to their inability to generate profile code.
Oloyede stated that some candidates admitted they did not have money to procure the UTME forms, adding that majority of the applicants sent the wrong details to get the board code and sent their NIN to the wrong shortcode.
“We have also seen cases where rather than send their NIN to 55019, candidates sent it to 55012, while others sent the same command with post-paid phones rather than pre-paid,” he explained.
The JAMB boss complained about the overbearing influence of parents and how tutorial centres misled candidates with wrong information and registered underage candidates.
“I have not found any challenge beyond the problems of parents. If you go out there, you will find a large number of parents who have no business here. They are also too intruding, misleading their children. The mothers took over their lives, sending wrong things to wrong numbers,” he said.
Oloyede explained that some candidates claimed they could not generate a profile code and obtain the National Identification Number (NIN). The board had insisted that no candidate would be allowed to sit the examination without the NIN.
According to him, following the challenges, the board allowed a two-week window for the affected people to lodge their complaints at its offices or registration centres and get help.
Meanwhile, the JAMB registrar called on state ministries of education to regulate activities of tutorial centres as a strategy to save the education sector from collapse.
He said the activities of some tutorial centres remained a hindrance to sanitising the country’s education system. “Tutorial centres are a haven for examination malpractice.”
