Professor Ojerinde: JAMB registrar

The 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will begin tomorrow, with 1,589,175 candidates taking part over a 14-day period in 521 centres in Nigeria and eight other countries.

Out of the candidates, 343 of them are prisoners. They will sit for the exams in Ikoyi Lagos and Kaduna prisons. They will also have access to computers.

Two Hundred and one  Visually Impaired candidates registered for this year’s examination and adequate arrangements have also been provided to ensure that they partake in the examination.

The number of registered candidates is over 100,000  more than those who sat for the examination last year. Last year, 1,475,477 candidates  registered.

This year’s tests and will “not  be more than 14 days,” the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Emeritus Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde, has stated.

The Registrar, in a press statement made available to newsmen commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for his support, noting that this is the first UTME that will be done under the new administration.

He also commended education stakeholders and the press, among others, for the support the Board has received in the course of preparations for the examination.

The UTME, Ojerinde said, will hold simultaneously in  the 521 centres in Nigeria and eight foreign centres including Accra in Ghana, Buea in Republic of Cameroun, Cotonou in Republic of Benin, London in United Kingdom, Jeddah in Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia, Johannesburg in Republic of South Africa, Addis in Ethiopia and Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.

Imo State recorded the highest number of candidates registered for the 2016 UTME with 102, 727, while Osun and Oyo states followed with 83, 060 and 81, 065 respectively, while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Zamfara State recorded the lowest registrations with 5, 069 and 7,254 candidates respectively.