The decision by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to delay the release of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has heightened the anxiety of over 1.8 million candidates that sat for the examination.
The unusual delay has, aside frustrating the preparation and academic plans of most candidates, provided leeway for dubious mercenaries operating Computer Based Test (CBT) centres to deceive and dupe unsuspecting candidates seeking a solution.
BusinessDay investigations reveal that carrying capacity in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria has not significantly improved in relation to the exponential growth in the number of candidates seeking tertiary education in Nigeria.
Tertiary education institutions in Nigeria include, but not limited to, the universities, colleges of education and polytechnics. In the 2019 UTME, over 1.8 million candidates sat for the examinations, with the spaces available not more than 500,000.
Fabian Benjamin, public relations person for JAMB, says the board will carry out all the necessary steps before releasing the result, saying JAMB will not release the result instantly because JAMB Registrar had discovered that public outcry over little delay in the release of result made it a little bit difficult to do things that would guarantee the credibility of the result.
According to Benjamin, “Many candidates had in the past, escaped with illegitimate acts they perpetrated during the UTME exercise, and that won’t be allowed to continue.”
The board would strictly follow the process so that things can be done right, he says, noting, “We are less concerned about the time, but more about how well and credible the results become; neither policy meeting nor admission will start this month. So, the delay will not affect any item on our timetable.”
The JAMB spokesperson further assures that the UTME results are intact and nothing has happened to them, adding that the 2019 UTME exercise recorded malpractices but they are not as bad as they used to be.
To him, “Illegality had thrived in the society of over the years because people failed to follow issues to its logical conclusion. But we have decided to do otherwise, and we need the support of Nigerians to achieve that.”
He assures that JAMB would come up with a clean and credible result that everyone would be proud of. “Tertiary institutions who are our end users would also be proud of it.
“Our target is that candidates that commit any offence should not go unpunished. At the same time, we don’t want any innocent candidate to be punished unjustly,” he says.
The increasing demand for tertiary education and the unbridled desire for university degrees may be fuelling the growth of what National Universities Commission (NUC) regards as illegal degree awarding institutions sprouting across Nigeria. Many young people who express desperation in the search of tertiary qualifications, and are often frustrated by the failure to gain admission through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) likely fall prey to these illegal institutions.
