Posted by By IME OLA and EMEKA ENYINNAYA on
Technical hitches in the registration process for this year's Universities Matriculation Examination held recently dashed the hopes of hundreds of candidates who could not write the examination.
Technical hitches in the registration process for this year's Universities Matriculation Examination held recently dashed the hopes of hundreds of candidates who could not write the examination.
At various centres across the country, some of them were seen weeping profusely after futile efforts to locate their centers.
As early as 7 a.m some candidates who had difficulties locating their centers besieged The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board's office in Ikoyi to seek help but met only security men who could not attend to them.
While some complained that they had their centres changed at the last minute, many others said they were confused about the location of the examination town and centre.
For instance, about 10 candidates brought their slips showing: Examination Town Ikoyi/Victoria Island. Examination Centre: Ilemba Hausa, Ajangbadi, near Okokomaiko, Lagos. Some candidates who registered to write the examination in Lagos were posted out of Lagos to other states.
One of them Ogbeka Samuel, who bought his form at Zenith Bank, Apapa, was given a centre at Divine Love Secondary School, Akwanga in Plateau State. Another candidate Rita Linus said her registration slip had no centre on it. Weeping profusely, she said: "I came here two weeks ago and they asked me to go, assuring that the error would be rectified. I was here again on Friday and they still told me to go. What am I going to do now?"
She was not alone as scores of candidates with no centres and tens of candidates with corresponding registration seat numbers, as well as others who could not register after buying forms and scratch cards were asked to go to Eko-Akete Grammar School, Campus Square, Lagos, but were not allowed into the premises by security operatives.
When Daily Sun visited the school, a large army of angry and disappointed candidates gathered outside the gate. Some were weeping uncontrollably while others were lamenting and cursing. Several others attempted to pull down the gate.
One of the candidates, Victor Oluwasegun told Daily Sun: "I have the same registration number with about three people. Meanwhile, the person that has the passport on the photocard is missing, maybe he or she is going round other centres."
One Samuel Bassey, who said he could not even log on after buying the form, said: "JAMB asked the banks to sell forms, if the centres were full, why did they continue to sell the forms. JAMB is fraudulent, I do not like the way the examination is organized. I bought my form on the 14th March and by the time I wanted to log on, they said the site was closed." A parent, Mr. Adekunle Adesoji, who accompanied his son, said: "I bought about three scratch cards but could not access my son's registration slip. I was at JAMB office repeatedly and they asked me to come this morning to get a special centre. I was there but did not meet any JAMB official. I leave everything to God."
Some complained that they could not print out their photo sheets for the examination. However, Mr. Abdulrasaq Lawal, a director in JAMB, who monitored the examination in Ikoyi and Victoria Island Centres, blamed those he said defrauded the candidates in the name of filling forms for them.
"This is not a JAMB problem," he maintained.
The board's Public Relations Officer, Chinwe Ogbuka, who monitored the examination in Abuja, spoke in the same vein. In a telephone interview with Daily Sun, Ogbuka who was in the monitoring team led by the Registrar, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, said: "JAMB did not create the problems. Those candidates should have gone to look for their examination centres before the examination day."
It was indeed a sad day as some candidates who reported late to the centres were turned back. At Kings College, Lagos, some candidates who came an hour late were not allowed into the examination hall. Some wept and pleaded with the invigilators to let them in, all to no avail.
In many centres across the state, examination fraudsters continued their game using the GSM technology. Despite the ban on the use of handsets or any form of communication gadgets in or around the venue of the examination, candidates were seen with handsets in examination halls in most of the centres Daily Sun visited.
At Kings College, Lagos, one of the invigilators who preferred anonymity, told reporters that candidates were ordered to drop their handsets at the gate and were thoroughly searched before being allowed into the examination halls. But some of them still smuggled their handsets into the hall to copy presumed answers sent to their handsets.
Over the years, the board has tried to conduct a hitch-free and credible examination but perpetrators of examination malpractice always find new ways to continue their game. The cellphone technology provides them a smart way to beat the best effort of the board to stamp out the menace.
But the registrar has promised them a tough time with the introduction of a device to demobilize phones and other communication systems at examination centres.
The experiment took place at Government Secondary School, Garki, Government Science and Technical School, Garki and Government Secondary School, Tudun Wada, Wuse in Abuja. Though it was reportedly fraught with teething problems as it could not completely bar calls from fixed wireless lines, the registrar said it would be improved upon and extended to cover all UME centres across the federation.
A record 1,054, 043 candidates were expected to write the examination for admission into first degrees programmes in Nigerian universities for the 2008/2009 academic session in 1,979 centres within and outside the country.
Just like last year when the board released the results in record time, the registrar has promised to release this year's results in June.