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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The registration for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) ended on Wednesday, as the extension announced the previous week by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) elapsed.
JAMB had granted the one-week registration extension to accommodate candidates, who could not register for the 2023 UTME within the allowed window of Saturday, 14th January to Tuesday, 14th February 2023, due to exigencies related to recent developments in the country, specifically, cash crunch.
However, at the close of the registration exercise, about 1.6m candidates successfully registered for the 2023 UTME, and the number does not include the Direct Entry (DE) component of the exercise, which commenced on Monday, February 20, before it was put on hold on Tuesday, 21st February 2023.
JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in a statement on Wednesday, noted that the Registrar’s monitoring team, which had gone around the country to monitor the exercise ended their task in Nasarawa and Delta States on the final day of the exercise to oversee its conclusion.
He said: “In Asaba, Delta State, the team visited Trinity Innovation Hub CBT Centre; Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku CBT Centre 1 and 2; Delta State Library CBT and others. It was, however, remarkable that none of these centres had any candidates waiting to be registered indicating that almost all candidates, who desire to register for the exercise had done so.
“The same situation was replicated in many centres in Nasarawa State as few candidates were seen at all the CBT centres a day to the closing date but they were cleared before the close of work. Hence, from every indication, this year’s exercise is shaping up to be the smoothest the Board has ever had.
“But based on reports received from the various monitoring teams across the country, the Board would review its SIM number swap policy.
“It will now require the Telcos to confirm that the old SIM being put forward for swapping previously belonged to the applicant but had been issued to another person, which would, therefore, preclude the possibility of a SIM welcome back before such swapping would be approved.”
