The Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, in person of Prof Is’aq Oloyede on Saturday, announced the extension of registration for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry till May 29.
He announced the developments at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, saying it was the outcome of a two-day stakeholders’ meeting.
He said the board has also extended the UTME for the 2021/2022 admission as well as the mock exam till later dates.
According to him, stakeholders recommended that a two-week extension be granted to candidates who have yet been able to register as a result of challenges associated with the National Identification Number and others.
“Contrary to the board’s projection of about two million candidates yearly registration, 1,134,424 candidates (UTME+DE) have so far been registered,” Oloyede said while reading the communiqué of the stakeholders’ meeting.
Consequently, the 2021 mock UTME earlier scheduled for May 20 will now take place on June 3, while the main UTME has been scheduled for between June 19 and July 3.
The communiqué reads, “Desirous of affording prospective candidates more time to complete their registration for the 2021 UTME/DE, which was expected to end on Saturday, May 15, 2021, stakeholders recommended a two-week extension for registration, to now end on May 29, 2021.
“The extension is contingent upon stakeholders’ firm commitment to deliver on their respective responsibilities. Accordingly, the 2021 mock UTME earlier scheduled for May 20, 2021, will now hold on June 3, 2021, while the main UTME will hold from June 19-July 3, 2021. JAMB will dispatch monitoring teams to all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory during the extension period.”
Oloyede said JAMB would set up a committee under the chairmanship of the director of Information and Communications Technology in the Federal Ministry of Education to seek an alternative Value Added Service company.
Oloyede also directed Computer-Based Testing Centres to stop selling e-PINs, saying flouting the directive would attract appropriate sanctions.
He said, “No CBT centre should collect money for e-PIN and registration fees simultaneously. No CBT centre should collect a registration fee until the completion of registration.
“Stakeholders reiterated the prohibition of group registration for candidates, with the threat of sanction against any CBT centre that violates the instruction. The CBT centres are directed to open all 20 allowable registration points to ease congestion at the centres.
“Candidates for Direct Entry are reminded to, while procuring their e-PIN, specify their category of admission. However, where a DE candidate mistakenly purchases an e-PIN for UTME, the selling point is hereby directed to rectify the error by swapping the e-PIN to DE at no further cost to the candidate.
“Digital Service Providers are encouraged to expand their facilities, including the provision of redundancy links. NIMC pledged to give priority attention to UTME/DE prospective candidates.
“All prospective candidates and other users who have not received a response from 55019 are requested to send their Tracking ID or NIN to nimc-jamb2021@nimc.gov.ng. However, those who had obtained their NIN through unauthorised sources will have to go to the NIMC office to resolve their challenges.”
Oloyede said the board’s stakeholders implored the Federal Ministry of Education to discourage parents from seeking to register underage and immature candidates to pursue tertiary education ahead of their time.
“NIMC further pledged to deploy special monitoring teams and sanction any NIMC agent found extorting candidates in the cause of enrolment.
“Against the background of its below par performance, one of the operators gave firm assurance of the optimisation of its services during the extension of the registration and examination,” he said.