The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has hinted at the possibility of the postponement of the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which is slated to hold between June 5 and June 19, 2021.
This follows the difficulty experienced by some candidates when trying to register for the examinations and the likely extension of the registration.
This disclosure was made by the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is’aq Oloyede, at a zoom meeting titled, ‘Briefing session for the committees on 2021 UTME’, with stakeholders.
Oloyede, who said that the board will decide if there is a need to extend the registration period and change the date of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, however, stated that the Mock examination would still go ahead on May 20 as stipulated earlier.
READ: JAMB: How to register for the 2021 UTME examinations
What the JAMB Registrar is saying
Oloyede in his statement said, “Presently, we have 1.2million candidates that have registered but we expect 1.9million. 600,000 candidates had made attempt to register but because of NIN, they could not. We want to do an appraisal of all the issues to know if we are extending registration or not.
“Extending registration may not be the solution if we found out that we can give 80 per cent of those who have made attempt another password, then there will be no need to extend registration.
“We have to determine where the problem is coming before we can say we are extending. After today, we will address the press tomorrow on the outcome of the meeting on the main examination date and registration. We want to assess what is happening.”
READ: JAMB sets date for 2021 UTME registration and examination, makes NIN mandatory
The JAMB Registrar said that the possibility of shifting the exam forward is still high; but, however, noted that it will be determined after the meeting with stakeholders as about 600,000 candidates who have indicated an interest in the exam are yet to register.
Oloyede said so far, 1.1 million candidates have registered for the 2021 UTME, stating that the board anticipates approximately 1.9 million applicants at the end of the exercise.
What you should know about UTME 2021
It can be recalled that in April, JAMB confirmed the commencement of registration for the 2021 UTME/DE examinations after the initial hiccup.
JAMB had stated that applicants must provide National Identification Number (NIN) at the point of registration with registration by Direct Entry candidates to run concurrently with that of UTME candidates.
JAMB had also earlier banned the use of email by candidates for UTME and Direct Entry examinations at the point of registration in order to protect candidates from various forms of manipulation and distortion of their personal details by some fraudulent cyber café operators.