UTME: JAMB REGISTERS 600, 000 CANDIDATES, SAYS NO EXTENSION PERIOD

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has so far registered 600, 000 candidates for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across the country.

Dr Fabian Benjamin, Head of Public Relations JAMB, made this known on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bwari, FCT.

He said that JAMB was not going to extend the registration period, saying that before deadline every candidate will register.

The spokesman said that measures were on ground to ensure the regulated platform could help candidates to get registered before the end of the month and to prevent irregularities in registration.

Benjamin observed that some applicants were seeking extension of the UTME registration deadline due to irregularities in the ongoing registration process.

According to him, it is wrong for any person to also think that there is inadequacy in the number of centres stipulated to register candidates for the UTME.

“We have already registered 600, 000 candidates since sales of form began March 20, how can there be inadequate centres or lack of manpower, when we have more than 400 centres.

“There is no such delay as alleged by some candidates, the issue here is that plenty people are registering for the UTME at the same time.

“The internet is working, if it is not working how then we arrived at the total of 600, 000 that have so far been duly registered.

“Large numbers of applicants seeking to register for UTME go to the Banks allocated for the exercise that is why there seem to be some form of delays and irregularities.

“Before we used three banks and now it is 15 banks because the period is short, but we are not going to extend the registration period, before deadline every candidate will register,” he said.

JAMB spokesman told NAN that the initiative for use of the platform to register candidates for the UTME was in line with the Board’s policy to ensure standards operation.

He, however, said that 25 persons have been arrested and handed over to the Police for illegal registration and sale of the 2017 UTME materials to candidates across the country.

He mentioned that the suspects were arrested by a combined team of Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU); members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the NigeriaPolice Force.