JAMB may extend UTME registration deadline – Registrar

JAMB Registrar Is-haq Oloyede

The Joint Admission and Registration Board (JAMB) on Friday said it might extend the one-month deadline given to applicants to register for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

JAMB had fixed sales of forms and registration of candidates for between March 20 and April 19, 2017.

Application forms for Direct Entry candidates would be on sale from April 23, the examination body said.

But addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, the Registrar of the Board, Is-haq Oloyede, said an extension was being considered to ensure that no prospective applicant is shut out of the registration process.

The registrar hinted of the extension while announcing suspension of registration for one day to enable Computer Based Test centres to concentrate on the mock exam fixed for Saturday, April 8.

Mr. Oloyede said about one million candidates had so far registered for the examination, and expressed hope that the remaining one week left for registration would be sufficient to capture all those desirous of writing the test this year.

“However, as stated earlier, no one will be left behind as the deadline may be extended if there are applicants who do not succeed at registering due to circumstances beyond their control,” he said.

The House of Representatives had on April 4 asked JAMB to extend the registration exercise by at least another month to create more space for prospective applicants.

The call was contained in a motion on raised that day by Danburan Nuhu (Kano-APC)

Mr. Nuhu said during the 2016 UTME exercise, about 1.6 million applicants registered out of which about one million passed while the 2017 exercise might reach 2 million candidates across the country given the growing number of applicants.

“Some of the approved centres are registering 250 applicants at a time and most of them are not spacious, do not have adequate number of computers,” he said.

He urged the examination body to specify the requirements, including safety measures, which qualify any centre to participate in the conduct of UTME Computer Based Test.

He also urged JAMB to deploy safety equipment to each centre to forestall any incidence of stampede due to overcrowding.

The motion was unanimously adopted by the House and the committee on basic education was mandated to request JAMB to comply with the resolutions.