Some parents and candidates writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have bemoaned the posting of candidates by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) outside their areas.

Some of the parents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the situation was inconveniencing and destabilising.

This, they said, was especially so for candidates who had no relatives where they were posted to.

A parent, Mr Mohammed Nasir, said that his son registered in Lagos in October 2015 and was posted to Tai Solarin College of Education in Ogun state.

Nasir, who is a civil servant, described the situation as unfair, adding that his son had registered early enough to avoid such far posting.

“Despite JAMB’s policy of posting within one’s vicinity, he was still not considered,” he said.

According to him, his son who will be writing the examination on Monday, will be forced to relocate to Ogun a day before to the examination to avoid lateness.

A candidate, Mr Ebuka Chinedu, said that he had been posted to write the exam in Abeokuta and would be leaving Lagos as early as 4.30 a.m to beat the examination time.

Another candidate, Mr Uche Osuagwu, told NAN that he had been posted to Ibadan to write the examination on Monday first batch.

According to him, he knows no one in Ibadan and would be lodging in a hotel with his father.

A blind candidate, Mr Adeniyi Omoare, said he resides in Ondo state and was posted to write the examinations in Lagos, adding that he registered while on a visit to Lagos.

He further added that while in Ondo for the examinations, he was redirected to Yabatech to write the examination on Monday.

According to him, he had not made adequate preparation for the change in date and place of examinations.

Meanwhile, a JAMB official who spoke on grounds of anonymity, gave reasons for such posting, attributing it largely to the intending candidates.

According to her, some candidates while filling forms may not have specified accurately the place where they would be as at the time of the examination.

She added that most times, some candidates misunderstood place for the exams with their place of residence.

She said that the other issue could be the cyber café operators who had assisted candidates in filling the online form.

Such operators, she said, may have filled in wrong information following pressure of work.

The official said that the other major issue was that Lagos portal for JAMB registration was closed down two weeks before the deadline.

This, she said, was because the available centres had been filled and those who registered late had to be taken to the nearest state to their place of residence.