The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has accused the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of posting candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examinations (UTME) to distant centres, condemning the practice as unfair.
In a statement by its Deputy National Coordinator, Ogunjimi Isaac, the ERC also criticised JAMB’s directive mandating candidates to arrive at the centres as early as 6:30 a.m.
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It said the directive is insensitive and doesn’t regard their safety.
Meanwhile, JAMB said it has only posted candidates to Computer Based Test (CBT) centres located in the town they chose.
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The board also said examinations begin at 8 a.m., noting it only urges candidates to come early for their biometrics.
But the ERC noted that the complaint was that the board was posting candidates to far CBT centres even within the chosen town of the candidates.
It added that the board also mandates the candidates to resume at odd hours of 6:30 a.m. at these centres, noting the situation compelled candidates to embark on journeys to the centres as early as 4 a.m., thereby exposing them to dangers.
The group, therefore, demanded that the examination board reschedule candidates’ time of arrival from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m..
It also called for the establishment of more CBT centres by the government in each locality to reduce congestion.
UTME 2025
Every year, candidates seeking admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions sit the UTME which serves as an entrance examination used to rank the applicants.
Over two million candidates are expected to sit this year’s exercise which is ongoing.
This year, JAMB used 887 CBT centres across the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country for the UTME exercise.
Knocks, accusations
However, in less than a week since the UTME began on Thursday 24 April, some candidates have been reported dead after they were involved in an accident along the Oyo-Ogbomoso road.
Another candidate was reported missing after she left her home in Ajah to Epe in Lagos State for her UTME. She was later found in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
These events enraged social media users who accused the board of insensitivity in the posting of candidates and scheduling of examination time.
The ERC accused JAMB of responding to these criticisms with the lack of sensitivity and empathy.
“First and foremost, we have to make the point that the officials of JAMB need to understand that they are working with an examination body dealing with young adults.
“To this extent, the public communications of such a body even on a matter it considers itself to have been unfairly accused need to be moderate, empathetic and sensitive,” the ERC said.
The group expressed concern that after conducting the annual exercise for decades, JAMB has yet to figure out how to conduct hitch-free examinations.
It noted that it is unacceptable that the candidates, who are mostly teenagers, are posted far away from their places of residence.
“This act expresses lack of proper planning and logical scheduling of examination centres for candidates. Many candidates entered the exam halls with unsettled minds due to the unnecessary stress they encountered during the process of locating their exam centres,” it added.
JAMB deny irregular posting
But JAMB denied accusations that it posted candidates to far flung locations.
In a statement by its Spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, JAMB said it believed parents are being deceived by either their wards or schools that it posted the candidates to CBT centres in different towns.
The board maintained that it only posts candidates to their preferred town as selected during their UTME registration.
READ ALSO: UTME2025: JAMB delists five CBT centres, arrests 27 for impersonation
“Let it be unequivocally clear: at the time of registration, candidates have the right to select their preferred examination town. JAMB subsequently assigns them to a centre within that chosen town,” JAMB said.
“The baseless assertion that candidates are placed in towns different from their selections is erroneous, malicious and aimed solely at tarnishing the board’s reputation. It never happens.”
JAMB went ahead to offer “handsome financial reward” to anyone who can prove that the board indeed posted candidates outside their chosen town.
It also called on the public to grant public agencies the benefit of the doubt and trust that they exist to serve public interest.
Senate considers establishment of more CBT centres
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund has said it would move for the construction of CBT centres in all the 774 LGAs in the country in the next budget cycle, to ensure seamless UTME exercise.
The Chairperson of the committee, Muntari Dandutse, disclosed this while overseeing the conduct of the UTME, JAMB reported in its weekly bulletin published on Monday.
Despite JAMB operating 887 CBT centres for this year’s UTME, the committee noted that the number falls short of adequately serving all local government councils.
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