UTME candidates should blame CBT centres for their woes

UTME candidates should blame CBT centres for their woes – JAMB chief

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on Thursday distanced the board from the hitches experienced by 1.7 million candidates in the examination.

Speaking at an informal meeting with newsmen at one of the CBT centres in Ilupeju, Lagos, where he went to monitor the UTME, Oloyede blamed most of the woes being faced by candidates on owners, operators of the CBT centres, who he said had promised JAMB hitch-free examination.

There have been complaints of poor internet services at most Computer Based Test, CBT, centres causing delays or disruptions and alleged muddling up of subject combinations since the examination started.

There have, also, been complaints about poor power supply leading to computer shutdowns, inability of the biometrics system to identify or authenticate candidates fingerprints, among others.

Oloyede, who blamed owners of the CBT centres, not only for poor technical services, but, also, for exploiting candidates by overcharging them on registration, promised to review the centres in next year’s exam.

He said, “I have gone round some of these centres. There will surely be a review after this exam. In Lagos, for instance, we have 65 private-owned CBT centres being used for this exam. But, I am not sure up to 30 of them will remain in partnership with us after this year.

“I am aware of centres where candidates paid up to N15, 000 before they could be registered. It is even the only seemly sympathetic ones among them that are charging N8,500.”