By Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
Following the commencement of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has appealed to candidates who experienced glitches in the course of the examination to remain calm as they would be rescheduled.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyode, who made the appeal while fielding questions from newsmen after monitoring the exam in Kogo-Bwari, Abuja, said so far, the UTME had been going on smoothly as only one centre 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.
Speaking further, the JAMB boss said the exam body is not comfortable with the award of scholarships to UTME best-performing candidates on the basis of the exam alone, as that would not capture other criteria that are factored in for admission.
“Yes, MTN and other people are giving scholarships to the highest (scorers) but we have always discouraged them because you scored high in UTME doesn’t mean you are the best because some other factors will come in; the quality of your O Level will be added to it, post-UTME scores will be added to it. If you are going to NDA, your physical exercise will be added to it before we can say that you are the best; before we rank you, why rank people prematurely?
“You will see somebody saying my son scored 330, and in addition to that, he had seven A1s. Is he not qualified? He might be qualified when you are ranking people in your village; when it comes to Nigeria, he may be 650 despite the so-called brilliant to you,” he said.
The 2024 UTME is being held across the country today and will continue tomorrow.
