N100m Spent On UTME Mop-up Exam, Says JAMB Registrar

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, has described the just-concluded mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as a consequence of examination malpractice.

The exam was conducted for about 42,000 candidates in some states, most of whom were from the 10 centres where candidates’ results were cancelled for examination malpractice during the conduct of the exam in May.

Other categories of candidates who sat for the mop-up UTME are those with fingerprint peculiarities, BVN failure and technical issues.

Speaking in Lagos while monitoring the conduct of the exam, he said because there were innocent few among those who sat at those centres, the board decided to re-conduct the examination for all those who took in those centres but did not post them to the centres again.

He said the board and the candidates had to bear the consequences, as JAMB spent about N100 million to re-conduct the examination, while the affected students had to deal with the emotional and physical strains of rewriting the examination.

To the affected candidates, he said, “you have seen what all of us have made of the country. You are free to determine whether you will continue with the system or to create a better tomorrow and better tomorrow is not to cheat in the examination.”

Asked if conducting the examination was necessary considering the number of students yet to be admitted into universities following the ASUU strike, he said it would be unfair to cancel the examination since some state and private universities and other specialised institutions are not on strike.
He appealed to the government and the staff unions to solve the problem so the students could return to school.

Some candidates told THISDAY that they did not prepare adequately for the mop-up examination. Others said the cancelled results demoralised them.
Centres visited by the registrar were JKK ETC, WAEC International Office (WIO), Ikeja and WAEC Test and Training Centre (WTTC) Ogba.