By Godfrey AKON
Despite initial hitches, no fewer than 1,424,836 candidates have written the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, just three days after its commencement.
Officials of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, supervising the examination have lauded the exercise as one of the most successful in recent years.
With just 306,111 candidates remaining and 6 days for the exercise to end nationwide, there is no doubt that significant progress has been made as the board prepares to reel out results of the candidates.
JAMB commenced the 2022 UTME on May 6, 2022 with a total of 1,730,947 candidates participating in all JAMB-approved centres nationwide, and is expected to end the exercise on May 16, 2022.
While centres monitored by The Abuja Inquirer in some parts of Abuja and Nasarawa State, recorded a number of absentees, as at press time, the exercise was generally orderly and devoid of hitches.
At Royal Midland CBT Centre located in Koroduma, Nasarawa State, the Centre Administrator, Njoku Uchenna Samuel, said everything was in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise, adding that from its inception, there have not been issues.
“From day one of the exam, we have been recording successes here. Every aspect of the exam: the system, the networking, CCTV cameras, all that is needed are in perfect condition and all the JAMB officials have attested to that.
“We were given maximum of 250 candidates per session and 750 per day because we have three sessions each day,” Njoku said.
However, the Centre Supervisor of SASCON International School, Maitama, Abuja, Roland Clare, confirmed that the centre initially had challenges with the English Language paper as some of the options were not there, especially from the 11th to 17th question, which she noted was being rectified by JAMB.
“Sascon International School is one of the best schools here in Abuja. Candidates are responding very well. We don’t have any major problem,” Clare said.
Speaking on complaints by some candidates that papers were not starting on schedule, she said the centre had no such challenges, stating that some candidates were to blame for coming late on the excuse of traffic and other setbacks.
“If you have exam by 12:00pm and you leave your house by 11:00am, does that make any sense? Even if the exam is in the morning, you are supposed to leave as early as 6:00am. If you are having 12 o’clock exam you are supposed to leave early enough to arrive the venue well ahead of time,” she said.
One of the candidates at SASCON International School, Adetunji Ridwan, who confirm that he did not personally experience any hitch during the exam, however, said some candidates complained of malfunctioning computer systems.
Ridwan said his English language question paper was however complete, despite earlier reports that the paper had incomplete questions at the beginning of the exercise.
Another candidate, Samuel Gabriel, who is aspiring to read law in the university described his experience at SASCON as wonderful, adding that the environment was very conducive for the exercise.
Gabriel, who is making a third attempt at UTME, however noted that the exercise did not commence at 9:00am as scheduled while charging JAMB authorities to ensure that they keep to time in all subsequent exercises.
“I left home as early as 5:30am because I didn’t want to miss the time and I believe other students who came from different locations, very far from this place, came earlier; and when I came, I saw many siting outside. We expected to start by 9:00am but I think we started a little bit later than the time that was given to us. So, I think that one should be looked into.
“For my experience with JAMB this year, the officials were more polite and strict; I really enjoy them. In the previous years, I wrote JAMB with tension because of the harshness of the people I met. But this year, the people in this centre are not harsh,” he said.
JAMB’s Supervisor at Tightech CBT Centre located in SASCON International School, Mrs. Maryam Ali Alfa, noted that the exercise was hitch-free.
Alfa however noted that on May 6, there were issues with the English questions such as incomplete instructions on questions and errors where questions came before the passage that candidates were supposed to read before answering.
“But after such session, everything went well. We have a fantastic outing. We have not witnessed any hitches. The centre capacity is 250 per session, but we do have some absentees. Right now, we have 246 that are seated. Some candidates may miss their exam and come in crying because of the fuel scarcity,” she said.
Another candidate, Sahid Razaq, said he did not personally experience any technical hitch during the exam, stating that JAMB has done well but needs some improvement as some candidates were complaining of system failure.
