At the close of the registration for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) programme on Saturday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said a total of 1,837,011 candidates were successfully captured in the exercise that took place nationwide between February 19 and March 26.
This is contained in the latest weekly bulletin by JAMB which was released in Sunday night.
With N4,700 registration fee paid by the applicants, JAMB has successfully generated an estimated revenue of a total of N8.6 billion.
Out of the lump sum, a total of 776 computer-based test centres that took part in the exercise will share an estimated amount of N1.3 billion at the rate of N700 per candidate registered by each of the centres.
JAMB has also pledged support for the CBT centre owners over the sudden increase in the prices of diesel and the erratic power supply suffered nationwide recently.
The examination body said it recognised the plight of its partners, and appealed for their understanding, saying it would seek necessary approvals to grant them the necessary support as may be deemed appropriate.
According to the examination body, an estimated figure of 1.5 million candidates had been targeted for registration during the exercise with an estimated 50,000 candidates per day.
During a tour of the CBT centres during the registration, the JAMB registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor, said based on the body’s calculation, about 1.5 million candidates were being expected to complete their registration at the end of the exercise.
Speaking at the weekend with our reporter, JAMB’s head of media and protocol, Fabian Benjamin, said the figure of the registered had exceeded the body’s expectation.
He said unlike in the past when the adoption of the National Identification Number (NIN) as a mandatory condition for applicants had constituted challenge to the system, there had been little or no complaints in the just concluded exercise.
The figure of registered applicants in the year 2022 exercise is higher than roughly 1.4 million candidates who were registered in 2021.
JAMB had also refunded some candidates who were unable to complete their registration in 2021 but had paid the registration fee.
Pockets of complaints
Meanwhile, some applicants also expressed frustration in their efforts to generate their profile codes through the use of their NIN.
Some of the applicants including Akinrinade Maryam, a 16-year-old student, said they could not retrieve profile codes as directed by JAMB over what they described as NIMC’s failure to upload their NIN.
According to Miss Akinrinade, it took the intervention “of many people” before NIMC could update her NIN “as I was only able to register less than 24 hours to the close of the registration exercise for the year.”
The applicant said the development also denied her the opportunity to register for the Mock Examination which JAMB had fixed for April.
“The mock examination is for those who are able to register early but I could not because my NIN was not active and so I couldn’t register until Friday, just a day before the close of registration. There are many of my friends who were also affected by the technical issue.”
Confirming the development, the president of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) and founder of Lagooz Schools in Lagos, Yọmi Otubela, said some applicants had faced similar challenges at the centre, and that efforts to get the matter addressed proved abortive.
Mr Otubela advised JAMB to always factor in such technical difficulties, and that if such cases are established, “victims should be allowed to register for the examination to avoid disenfranchisement of willing students.”
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