The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. David Andrew Adejoh, on Monday, 20th February, 2023, monitored the just- concluded 2023 UTME registration exercise in some selected centres in Abuja and said JAMB had done well.
In his remarks, Mr. Adejoh stated that his outing was to have a first-hand experience of the process with a few to making informed decision should there be any need for government to make any policy input into the conduct of the exercise.
After going round and interacting with candidates seen at some of the centres, he commended the process and urged candidates to always ensure that they register within the allotted window. He also pointed out that the extension was almost akin to a waste of scarce resources as very few and negligible number of candidates eventually turned during the extension noting that they could as well do their registration without making the Board go through the rigours of extension.
This submission of the distinguished personality was borne out by the fact that some of the candidates he interviewed, confessed that they could have registered during the first window but were waiting to see if they could secure last-minute admission with their previous year’s UTME results from their institutions of choice.
The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, in his response, remarked that the extension was uncharacteristic of the Board as it always sticks to its time frame but this time had to bend over backward to accommodate those, who might be experiencing some difficulties with some of the payment platforms on account of the ongoing financial restructuring in the country. He, however, noted that most of the centres were empty with zero number of candidates registering during the extension. According to him, one positive thing about the extension was that the Board had been able to satisfy all righteousness by going the extra mile to be absolutely sure that no candidate had been disenfranchised.
He, therefore, called on all candidates to always register as of when due as the Board would not order any unwarranted extension in future exercises.
