UTME: Senate Asks FG to Establish ICT Centres across 774 LGAs

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate through its committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has asked the federal Government to  establish Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres  across the 774 local government areas in the country.

ICT centres are where candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions across the country sit for the computer-based Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Speaking to journalists while monitoring the ongoing UTME, the Chairman of  the  Committee, Senator Mohammed Muntari Dandutse (APC Katsina South), in Abuja yesterday, frowned at non-existence of the examination centres in some local government areas of the country.

He said since the Senate and by extension, the federal government, want Nigerians to study in Nigeria, access for such education through important examinations like UTME should be made easy for them.
He said, “In making it easy for candidates seeking admissions into universities or other tertiary institutions through UTME, the ICT centres must be made available in all the 774 local government councils across the country.
“I am from Katsina South Senatorial District where only two out of the eleven local government councils have ICT centres for UTME .

“Since the examination is computer-based, the CBT centres should be made available across the 774 local government councils in the country.
“To achieve this, our committee, and by extension, the Senate in collaboration with our colleagues in the House of Representatives, shall facilitate budgetary provisions for it in the 2026 fiscal year,” he said.

Earlier in his explanation to members of the committee, the spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, told them that JAMB has 880 ICT centres across the country but admitted that the centres are not across the 774 local government councils.
Fabian said, “JAMB presently has close to 900 ICT centres across the country and in fact precisely 880 centres which however do not cover all the 774 local government councils across the country.
“JAMB shall be happy if the committee facilitates budgetary provisions for establishment of ICT centres  in local government councils across the country that are yet to have one,” he said.

He allayed the fear raised by some members of the committee on envisaged malfunctioning of the system provided for candidates.

He said the system has been programmed in a way that its functionality, will not in any way, affect the  performance of candidates in the exam.

The committee had Senators Jibrin Isah, (Kogi East), and Diket Plang (Plateau Central) during the monitoring.