- Minor issues delayed start of matriculation exam
By Gabriel Dike
The 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to be taken by 1,985,642 candidates nationwide commenced on Friday with minor hiccups in some centres in Lagos.
The UTME, which will take place in over 730 approved CBT centres, started on Friday, April 19th to Monday, April 29th, 2024.
A visit to some CBT centres in Lagos revealed that the matriculation exam did not start as scheduled due to glitches.
However, a female candidate heading for the UTME at Egbe, was robbed early in the morning and pushed out of the moving Danfo plying Iyana Ipaja route.
The female UTME applicant sustained injuries on the head and part of her body. Her phone and a bag, which contained her transport fare was collected by the one-chance robbers.
The traumatized candidate arrived at her CBT centre (Bafuto) Egbe at about 6.15am with blood stains on her cloth and cut on her forehead.
Some good Samaritan women took her to a nearby compound, bathed her and provided her new cloth before she went in for the exam.
At about 10.55am, the worried parents of the female candidate arrived to take her home after writing the UTME in pain.
The parents and candidate refused to speak with our Correspondent.
At three CBT centres visited by our Correspondent at Ejigbo, Egbe and Ikotun, the first session of the matriculation exam did not start by 7.00am and the delay affected the 2nd session billed to commence by 9.00am.
Some candidates told Saturday Sun that the hiccups were caused by network related issues and internal arrangements at the centres.
A male candidate told Saturday Sun that they were kept in the waiting room for over an hour until the first session applicants finished at 9. 35am.
Another centre in Ejigbo, the 2nd session experienced delay and as at 11.30am, the candidates were still writing the matriculation exam that ought to have ended by 11.00am.
Some parents, who defied the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) management directive that they stayed away from the CBT centres queried why the board fixed the first session exam at 7.00am.
The parents however claimed ignorance of the JAMB directive and they urged the board to take cognizance of the young ages of the candidates, who required escort and guidance.
Statistics from JAMB showed Oyo State top applicants chart with 123,636, followed by Ogun 114,435, Osun 110,854, Imo 102,741, Delta 91,344, Benue 87,110, Kogi 86,836, Anambra 78,981, Kaduna 77,069, Kwara 73,746, Enugu 73,867, Kano 72,758, Ondo 72,448 and Edo State with 71,612.
Others are Abia 52,546 candidates, Adamawa 26,713, Akwa Ibom 67,397, Bauchi 25,264, Bayelsa 24,076, Borno 33,098, Cross River 41,109, Ebonyi 33,395, Ekiti 49,721, F.C.T 8,020, Gombe 22, 558, Jigawa 25,499, Katsina 34,992, Kebbi 17,658, Lagos 41,063, Nasarawa 41,651, Niger 27,834, Plateau 46,181, Rivers 49, 298, Sokoto 17, 447, Taraba 30, 362, Yobe 17, 711, Zamfara 9, 473 and foreigners 139.