JAMB has sold nearly 1.6m 2018 UTME forms so far - Registrar declares

- Professor Is’haq Oloyede, the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), announces the extension of sales of the board's forms to Sunday, February 11

- Oloyede states that the move was aimed at accommodating candidates who failed to register within the two-month window

- He reveals that so far the board has sold close to 1.6m forms

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), says about 1.6 million registration forms for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have so far been sold, two days to the end of the exercise.

The board’s head, media and information, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, February 9, in Lagos.

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NAN reports that the Board commenced the sales of registration forms on December 6, 2017, and had said it would close on Tuesday, February 6.

However, the board’s registrar, Professor Is’haq Oloyede, on February 6, announced the extension of sales to Sunday, February 11, in an attempt to accommodate candidates who failed to register within the two-month window.

According to Benjamin, this year’s registration for the examination has proved to be one of the best in recent times.

Benjamin stated: “As at the close of work on Thursday, I can comfortably say that we have registered close to 1.6 million candidates for the examination. This year’s registration, too, can be adjudged as one of the best in recent times, as it has been smooth, hitch- and rancour-free.

“Having said this though, the Board will like to warn that there may be no more extension of period of registration for candidates in our future examinations.

“This is because some mischievous persons may want to seize the opportunity of the lengthy period of registration to carry out infractions that could undermine the integrity of the examination.We are seriously considering reducing the registration period to about one month.

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"We no longer want to give fraudsters the opportunity to deploy all kinds of tricks in the process.

“Imagine a situation whereby, in an entire month, less than 10 per cent of prospective applicants have registered until when we started approaching the last lap of the exercise.’’

NAN also reports that no date has been fixed for the much anticipated mock UTME, with the main examination temporarily scheduled for Friday, March 9 to Saturday, March 17.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday, February 6, extended the registration for 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE), until Sunday, February 11.

The board disclosed this in a statement signed by its head of media Fabian Benjamin made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. According to him, the extension came after the board made a decision albeit with great hesitation to accommodate candidates who failed to register between the two months window period.

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Source: Legit.ng