UTME mop-up exam costs JAMB over N100m – Oloyede

JAMB registers 1.5 million candidates for 2022 UTM/DE, insists on March 26 deadline despite poor turnout

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that it had so far registered 1, 512, 739 candidates as of Saturday, March 19, for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) examination.

This is as the board has maintained that the registration exercise for the examination will still close on Saturday, March 26, 2022, as earlier scheduled despite the poor turnout of candidates.

This was made known by the examination body in its Weekly Bulletin of the Office of the Registrar on Monday, in Abuja.

JAMB said that the sale of e-PINs for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) which commenced on February 19 and is expected to end on Saturday, March 26, would not attract any extension.

What JAMB is saying about the examination

JAMB in its statement said, ”This emphasis is essential because of the persistent drop in the number of e-PINs being vended, as well as the low turnout of candidates at the various centres across the nation.

”It would be recalled that the board had stated that it would not extend the registration beyond the window allotted to it by relevant authorities to conduct the exercise.

”As discussed earlier, registration dates are not fixed arbitrarily but through a consensus of the Federal Ministry of Education and examination agencies, before the commencement of the exercise.

”Therefore, all candidates who desired to register for this year’s examination are to do so immediately, as they only have this week and no extension would be granted after close of registration.

  • The board added that it had also, remitted N261, 992, 200 to accredited Computer Based Tests (CBT) centres and the N700 accumulated service charge for the fourth week of the exercise.
  • Meanwhile, the Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, had earlier today expressed displeasure at the turnout of candidates during a tour of a registration centre and said that there is no going back on the March 26 deadline for the registration of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), insisting that it remained sacrosanct.

What you should know

  • However, recall that about 2 weeks ago, JAMB had while giving reason for the likely non-extension of registration deadline for candidates taking part in the 2022 UTME and DE, said that they are happy with the huge level of progress of the exercise nationwide which has been very smooth and seamless.
  • It stated that because of that, it is on course to meet its daily target of 100,000 registrations despite the minor disruptions witnessed in some of these registration centres.
  • The examination body had earlier in a revised timetable, announced that the registration exercise for the 2022 UTME/DE will commence on Saturday, February 19 and is expected to end on March 26, with the main examination scheduled to hold from May 6 to May 16.
  • In a related development, JAMB had earlier announced that the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) mock examination will now hold on April 9, and no longer on April 16 as earlier scheduled.