The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has rule out the possibility of extending its 2016 UTME registration deadline.
9ja School Gist recalls that hundreds of prospective applicants for the 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) staged a peaceful protests in Benin City, Edo State, demanding extension of the online sale of UTME forms that closed recently.
The protesters, who stormed the Benin secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said they were unable to purchase the scratch card for the online registration due to the scarcity of the access cards.
The protesters consisted mainly of young school leavers and brandished placards with inscriptions such as, “JAMB Don’t Deny us Our Right to Education,” Extend Registration,” and “We Want Tertiary Education”.
In a statement issued by JAMB and signed by head media, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in Abuja, the examination body said though the board sympathised with the candidates, they were given about seven months to register, adding that the board needed to prepare for the examination that would start on February 29, 2016.
Some students, on Friday, in Edo and Lagos states protested against an alleged sudden closure of the JAMB online registration portal.
The statement read: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to the protest by some alleged UTME candidates in Benin and Lagos. The candidates were said to be protesting over the closure of the board’s registration portal in preparation for the 2016 examination which is due to begin in less than a week from today.
“The board sincerely sympathizes with the plight of these prospective candidates and states that it’s the wish of the board that Nigerian youths desirous of tertiary education are given ample opportunity to register for its examination. This was why it began the sale of its application document last August, that is about seven months ago.
“In the advertisement for the sale of the registration documents, the board clearly stated that the sales would close by January, but due to public appeal it extended the registration process to February.
“It’s imperative to disclose that the closure was also to allow the board to prepare adequately for the examination slated for the end of February. The board cannot allow candidates to register perpetually. It has a time table and it adheres strictly to it to allow the tertiary institutions begin the process of admission early. We all must work to enshrine the culture of discipline in the system.”
The board said it was quite unfortunate that some candidates waited until their website was withdrawn before making attempts to register.
“The scenario looks very suspicious, for a candidate who is billed to sit for an examination slated for February to suddenly appear in the same February protesting his inability to register less than a week to the examination when he knew that the registration was to close in the same month.
“Through this same process, over 1.5 million candidates have applied within this period and the board has made adequate preparation for them to sit for the 2016 exercise.
9ja School Gist recalls that hundreds of prospective applicants for the 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) staged a peaceful protests in Benin City, Edo State, demanding extension of the online sale of UTME forms that closed recently.
The protesters, who stormed the Benin secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said they were unable to purchase the scratch card for the online registration due to the scarcity of the access cards.
The protesters consisted mainly of young school leavers and brandished placards with inscriptions such as, “JAMB Don’t Deny us Our Right to Education,” Extend Registration,” and “We Want Tertiary Education”.
In a statement issued by JAMB and signed by head media, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in Abuja, the examination body said though the board sympathised with the candidates, they were given about seven months to register, adding that the board needed to prepare for the examination that would start on February 29, 2016.
Some students, on Friday, in Edo and Lagos states protested against an alleged sudden closure of the JAMB online registration portal.
The statement read: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to the protest by some alleged UTME candidates in Benin and Lagos. The candidates were said to be protesting over the closure of the board’s registration portal in preparation for the 2016 examination which is due to begin in less than a week from today.
“The board sincerely sympathizes with the plight of these prospective candidates and states that it’s the wish of the board that Nigerian youths desirous of tertiary education are given ample opportunity to register for its examination. This was why it began the sale of its application document last August, that is about seven months ago.
“In the advertisement for the sale of the registration documents, the board clearly stated that the sales would close by January, but due to public appeal it extended the registration process to February.
“It’s imperative to disclose that the closure was also to allow the board to prepare adequately for the examination slated for the end of February. The board cannot allow candidates to register perpetually. It has a time table and it adheres strictly to it to allow the tertiary institutions begin the process of admission early. We all must work to enshrine the culture of discipline in the system.”
The board said it was quite unfortunate that some candidates waited until their website was withdrawn before making attempts to register.
“The scenario looks very suspicious, for a candidate who is billed to sit for an examination slated for February to suddenly appear in the same February protesting his inability to register less than a week to the examination when he knew that the registration was to close in the same month.
“Through this same process, over 1.5 million candidates have applied within this period and the board has made adequate preparation for them to sit for the 2016 exercise.
