Some of the candidates, who sat for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, have commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for the hitch-free conduct of this year’s UTME.
According to the students, unlike the previous years, when the conduct of the UTME was marred by various factors, the smooth conduct of the examination this year has portrayed JAMB as a body that has been reformed to effectively and successfully undertake suchavery important national assignment.
Shortly before the conduct of its newly introduced mock examination, JAMB’s Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, had raised the alarm that some powerful forces interested only in maintaining the status quo wanted to frustrate his efforts towards making this year’s UTME exercise hitch-free.
Oloyede then vowed that JAMB would not return to the status quo, saying that he would rather step on toes, no matter how big they were. The candidates, however, noted that with the innovation introduced by the new JAMB management under its registrar/chief executive, the dream of many Nigerian youths to acquire higher education would be easily realised.
The applicants noted that with JAMB’s conduct of its mock examinations, through which the practicability and effectiveness of its innovative eight keys system of writing the UTME was tested and proved, this year’s UTME is being conducted “with a lot of ease.” They said that the mock examination they earlier took part in enabled them to become familiar with and properly grounded in the new eight keys system adopted for writing this year’s UTME.
The students further commended the early release of the results of the first batch of candidates, inspite of the fact that the UTME has yet to be concluded. JAMB on Tuesday released the results of 742, 906 candidates who sat for the examination last Saturday and Monday within 24 hours. 742,906 candidates took the examination last Saturday, while 401, 292 others wrote the UTME last Monday.
As at Tuesday, JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs, Fabian Benjamin, said that 1,144,198 out ofthe total 1,718,425 candidates sitting forthe examination this year had written the UTME. The UTME exercise will be concluded onSaturday, May 20.
The candidates, however, applauded JAMB for going ahead with its new methodof writing this year’s UTME. A candidate, Adeola Dolabomi Olatunji, who sat for the UTME last Tuesday at a centre in Ayobo area of Lagos, said that the new JAMB management had changed the “face” of the conduct of the examination held annually across the country.
She said, “The ease with which we wrote the examination in my centre was commendable.
JAMB has greatly improved in its way and manner of conducting the UTME.There were no hitches. I’m also earnestly waiting to seemyownresult because I satforthe UTME on Tuesday. The new method has saved us a lot of the stress.” Another candidate, Olufemi Dalemo, told our correspondent in Abeokuta, Ogun State, that he was happy with the conduct and outcome ofthis year’s UTME.
Dalemo said that unlike the previous UTME he wrote but failed, with his scores from this year’s UTME, he was sure of securing admission into the university of his first choice. “I want to thank JAMB ahead for the way they have conducted this year’s UTME. There was no problem at all. I’m happy that I will be going to the university after all these years with the result I’ve got now,” he said.
Adepeju Olumide, who sat for the UTME in theYaba area of Lagos, said that with the new method adopted by JAMB in conducting its examinations, many candidates would be saved the age-long problem of writing the examination several years before securing admission to tertiary institutions.
Corroborating the candidates in his assessment of the ongoing UTME, Professor Job Atteh of the Department of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, commended the innovation introduced and implemented by the JAMB registrar/chief executive in the conduct of the examination.
Atteh expressed delight that this year’s UTME is being conducted “smoothly” as the students in the early batch of candidates have already got their results. He, however, noted that the candidates in few of the centres encountered certain challenges, including network failure and power failure as well as institutional challenges.
Atteh maintained that running such a system simultaneously and perfectly was not an easy task. “We do not have a situation, where everything is working perfectly in Nigeria here,” he said. The Director of Entrepreneurship Skills at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Dr. Ademola Aderogba, also commended the new eight keys innovation used by JAMB for the 2017 UTME. He also commended the board for making efforts to bring indigitization into this sector of Nigeria’s educational system.
