By Buchi Ekanem
More candidates taking the University Tertiary Institutions Matriculation Examinations (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on day two, experienced continued glitches accessing their questions on the portal of the examination body.
This was inspite of claims by the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin, that JAMB is working to fix the problem.
About 1.6 million candidates spread across over 700 Computer-Based Test Centers are expected to take the examination at the ened of the exercise.
Benjamin had stated after the hitches of the first day of the examination: “Candidates, who for technical reasons could not take the examination, are to print a new examination notification early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 26th April, 2023, to know their new scheduled sessions”.
The statement accepted that the series of challenges encountered was on account of some novel ICT features deployed by the board to safeguard the sanctity of the examination by checkmating all incidences of examination misconduct being perpetrated and perpetuated by vested interests.
Yet, the hitches were experienced on the second day of the examination, raising speculations on whether JAMB took efforts to halt the glitches or if the ICT provider created more problems than resolving what they set out to do.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had introduced the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and real-time online result Viewing portal (iREV) in the 2023 general elections which turned out to make the election the worst in Nigeria’s electoral conduct.
Our correspondents who visited Gwagwalada, Kwali and Kuje Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Wednesday to monitor the conduct of UTME examinations reported continued glitches, raising speculation that inspite of increasing the fees for the examination, claiming they want to improve on the technology, JAMB failed woefully to deliver as promised.
Several students were seen sweeping unctrolably at several centers, saying their patents will punish them for being unable to write the examination.
At some other Centers in Gwagwalada, inspite of assurances to reschedule the examination by the center operators, the students remained forlorn and disappointed.
Incidences of inability to walk the talk by public institutions have continued, increasing public distrust on several other institutions, even when more money are pumped in to such institutions to provide what was needed to check the slide, but unfortunately they failed to do so.
Dr. Benjamin is yet to issue any further statement as at press time.
