BEVERLY HILLS, May 14, (THEWILL) – The possibility of shifting the date for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is very high, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, explained that this was because of the inability of at least 600,000 candidates who had indicated interest to participate, to register for the examination scheduled to hold between June 5 and 19.
Speaking at a virtual meeting with 2021 UTME committee members on Friday, Oloyede said the state of the examination was hinged on difficulties faced by candidates in registering for their National Identification Number (NIN), a mandatory requirement for registration.
“This is primarily because of NIN. We have more than 600,000 candidates who have indicated interest in our examination but are yet to receive their details.
“While the mock examination will go on as scheduled, we cannot say the same of the main examination.”
He disclosed that 1.1 million candidates have so far registered for the 2021 UTME, and the board anticipated approximately 1.9 million registrations at the end of the exercise.
The JAMB boss noted that while 50 percent of the candidates had already registered without problem, there was a need to carry everyone along.
He stated that at the end of the meeting with the stakeholders, they would decide on whether to shift the exam forward or not.
“The possibility of shifting the exam forward is still high, but that will be determined after our meeting with stakeholders”, said Professor Oloyede.
He added, “This is because about 600,000 candidates who have indicated interest in the exam are yet to register. There is a need to give everyone the opportunity.”
THEWILL reports that JAMB is likely to also announce the extension of the deadline for the registration for its 2021 UTME over NIN registration.
JAMB had set May 15 as the deadline for the registration, but only a little over one million candidates have so far registered for the UTME and about 30,000 candidates for Direct Entry.
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