JAMB to set up more CBT centres as 1.7million candidates register

- JAMB has pledged to make sure the examination centres are
increased

- Only 1,561,443 candidates sat for the UTME in 2016

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
(JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede while speaking to journalists at the
Information and Communication Technology Retreat on Tuesday,
February 14 in Abeokuta, Ogun state revealed some facts.

According to the registrar, the board is planning to increase its
Computer Based Testing (CBT) Centres in order to the make
examination exercise far better.

Speaking on the number of candidates, he said: “We are
expecting 1.7 million candidates to sit for JAMB this year and we
want to make sure we satisfy them within a week or thereabout.’’
Mr Oloyede also said while he could not guarantee a hitch-free
examination, the innovations being put in place “will send some
illegal operators, who are defrauding candidates in the past, out
of business.’’

His words: “Frankly, I cannot promise a hitch-free examination
because we are testing certain things.

“We are changing certain things; we want to question the status
quo and we expect a fight back by interests that will be trampled
upon."

Speaking on the state of the board, he said: “We are going to be
as flexible as humanly possible; we are not promising hitch free
examination."

The registrar also said that the major objective of the retreat was
for stakeholders to critique the board’s processes, “because we
will not want to continue in the wrong direction."

On expansion, he said the body plans to create new ICT facilities,
and that prospective candidates, scholars, institutions and civil
society groups were brought together to critique it.

He explained: “This is to enable us harvest good ideas that can
improve what we are doing.’’

Mr. Oloyede also said that JAMB would soon begin the sale of
forms for the 2017 UTME, adding that the board was also
working on the possibility of conducting a mock examination.

Meanwhile, JAMB has warned prospective candidates, parents
and guardians to dismiss reports that it had started the sale of
the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Naij