JAMB registers 1. 5 million candidates for UTME

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board said it had so far registered 1 . 5 million candidates for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination across the country .
The Registrar of JAMB , Prof . Is - haq Oloyede , disclosed this in an interview with the newsmen on Saturday at side line of activities marking the pre -JAMB mock examinations .
It will be recalled that the JAMB mock examinations earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday, May 8 had been postponed to ensure smooth conduct of the exam .
Oloyede said , “ So far , it has even been better than our expectation , it was a mock, the intention was to test the technology and it proved to be perfect .
“ I think from what we are seeing, we are more than ready for the main examination.
“ At least 90 percent of the examination centres have reported positively , there has been proper downloading and preparation ; even after the exam , we had uploaded responses of 80 per cent .
“ We have done it to show that what works elsewhere across the world should work in Nigeria ; we believe we can do it efficiently ; we will continue to do our best .
“ We have registered over 1 . 5 million candidates in less than five weeks ; we believe that the reality we have put in place is good enough . ’’
Oloyede said that 633 centres were used to conduct the mock examination for 153 , 000 candidates across the country.
In separate interviews , some of examination centre coordinators and candidates lauded JAMB for the mock initiative geared towards equipping the candidates to do better in the main exam.
Mr Abdul - Aziz Olasoyinka , Technical Research Officer of Digital Bridge Institute , commended JAMB for the mock examination.
He said it was apt in terms of preparation for future exams .
Olasoyinka said : “Mock is a good experience because it will help the candidates to adequately prepare for the forthcoming examination.
“ It helps to evaluate how well the candidates have prepared and to improve themselves ahead of time . ”
Mr Olajide Adisa , Director of Outstations at JAMB , said although there were 230 capacities at the Computer Based Test ( CBT) centre , plans were on to upgrade to 250 them before the main exam.
“ Even with that our specification is that at least we should have 10 percent of same capacity as back - up in case of any breakdown .
“ We have already put measures in place to test them in the course of the mock examination, they will be ready for the main examination, ” Adisa said .
A candidate , Miss Hadiza Abdullahi , said that the mock examination had improved her level of confidence ahead of the main exam .
She described the examination as encouraging , adding that she expects to sit for the main examination well -equipped.
Abdullahi , however , appealed to the board to put measures in place to enable candidates wanting to register for the future exam to do so with ease .
The mock examination held in three sessions , including the JAMB , headquarter and CBT centre in Kogo community.
( NAN)