JAMB sets dates for 2020 UTME exams

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it will conduct its 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) between March 14 and April 4.

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, disclosed this while hosting State Commissioners of Education on Monday in Abuja.

Oloyede also said the registrations for its mock examinations would hold between Jan. 13 and Feb. 1, 2020 while the mock examinations would hold on Feb. 18, 2020.

He explained that the registration for the 2020 UTME and Direct Entry would also run simultaneously between Jan. 13 and Feb. 17, 2020.

According to him, the board is bringing in the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as directed by the National Assembly and Federal Executive Council, to conduct the 2020 UTME.

He, therefore, urged prospective candidates to approach any NIMC enrollment centre to obtain the NIN to enable them register for the examinations.

“Everybody must rise up and support NIMC. We are also bringing in Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) to help in monitoring the Computer Based Centres (CBT).

“We also have the advantage of the Galaxy Backbone. Each of the CBT centres has been mapped with NIMC enrollment centres.

“Meanwhile, over 40 per cent of the candidates have already obtained their NIN.

“This will ease our job because those who have not been able to register can now be transported to NIMC centres at the point of registration,’’ the Jamb boss said.

The registrar also said the importance of a candidate registering with NIN was to eliminate multiple registration which was a problem during the 2019 registrations.

“Our experience last year showed that some candidates registered multiple times so as to perpetrate impersonation. We are aware that examination malpractices start at the point of registration.

“JAMB needs full collaborations of states education commissioners to help sensitise candidates in their various states on the need and importance of the NIN for 2020 registration.

“We have called you to inform you about our preparedness towards the conduct of the 2020 UTME and to pay attention to public examinations in your states and be conscious of proliferation of examination centres to perpetrate malpractices,’’ Oloyede said.

He explained that the board had put in place a Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) designed to prevent institutions from unilaterally changing or proposing a candidate for admission into the programme or courses other than his/her chosen course.

He explained that some institutions had devised a method of offering admission to candidates outside CAPS on their designated portals, saying any institution doing this was putting the future of such candidates into jeopardy.

He, therefore, said JAMB had mandated institutions to give preference to the candidates’ chosen courses.

On the news reverberated on social media of how one Miss Goodness Thomas who scored 302 was denied admission by the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Oloyede said she did not meet the merit score for admission for the chosen course.

Recall that the Thomas had applied to study Medicine but was instead given Human Anatomy by the university.

Oloyede said: “The university did well by offering her Human Anatomy. She came third from Niger and the university picked the first two candidates from her state so she did not meet the merit score for ABU’’.