BREAKING: UTME Candidates Stranded in Lagos

AMILOADED MEDIA HUB NEWS UPDATE

Candidates scheduled to sit the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at Al-Mizyan Schools Computer Based Centre in Ikotun, Lagos State are currently unable to participate in the exercise owing to technical glitches.

Parents and guardians told journalist that the CBT centre gave excuses bordering on glitches with connection cables.

A parent who spoke to Punch on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said after candidates waited for hours, the CBT centre operators advised that candidates reprint their examination slips with the hope that the examination would be rescheduled.

However, the parent noted that there was nothing of such.

“My son went to his centre to sit for the exam. He got there at 8 am. Even people from earlier sections assigned to the centre for the exam encountered the same. They gave the excuse that someone shook the wire (connection cable ) and they asked all candidates to go and reprint their slips. He reprinted his slip with no change of exam time, date or even centre.

“JAMBHQ students who were supposed to sit for CBT exams at Al-Miyzan Schools CBT Centre at Ikotun didn’t write their exams. The centre kept giving them excuses and they told students to go reprint the exam slips they did, and no change of date of exam centre has been effected all,” she said.

A sister to an affected candidate who also spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity noted that the centre had faulty equipment and hence should not qualify as a CBT centre.

“The computers are not working properly. It shouldn’t be an accredited centre. Candidates for the first set (7 am) were not able to sit for the exam. The second set (9 am) is yet to sit the exam by 11. 30am,” she said.

JAMB’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Fabian Benjamin, confirmed that all hands were on the deck to ensure that all candidates who have registered sit the examination.

JAMB slated the main UTME to hold from April 19 to 29, 2024.

However, 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.