JAMB may postpone 2021 UTME – Oloyede

By Modupe Shodeinde

The registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Is-haq Oloyede, has hinted of the possibility of postponement of this year’s unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) which has been slated to hold between June 5 and 19.

He said the decision to either postpone the examination or to continue as scheduled would be taken later on Friday at a meeting billed to hold with concerned individuals and institutions.

Mr Oloyede, who disclosed this on Friday morning during an ongoing virtual meeting with relevant stakeholders ahead of the examination, blamed the development on the difficulties being experienced by the candidates in their efforts to register.

The registrar, however, confirmed that the mock examination that is slated for May 20, will go on as scheduled.

The registrar explained that “Presently, we have 1.2million candidates that have registered but we expect 1.9million. 600,000 candidates had made attempt to register but because of NIN they could not. We want to do an appraisal of all the issues to know if we are extending registration or not.

“Extending registration may not be the solution if we found out that we can give 80 per cent of those who have made attempt another password, then there will be no need to extend registration.

“We have to determine where the problem is coming before we can say we are extending. After today, we will address the press tomorrow on the outcome of the meeting on the main examination date and registration. We want to assess what is happening.”