UTME: Downpour, technical hitches cause candidates to miss exam
Early morning rain recorded across major cities and towns in Nigeria on Friday caused some candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to miss their examination schedule.
There were also others, especially at the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, who could not sit the examination due to technical difficulties with the biometric data capturing machines.
The 2022 edition of the examination conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) kicked off across 750 centres nationwide on Friday and will continue till Saturday, May 14.
Those affected by the rain were the candidates scheduled to sit their examination by 7 a.m. as they claimed they suffered difficulties in accessing their centres due to flooding and traffic gridlock, especially in Lagos, Nigeria’s busy commercial nerve centre.
But JAMB’s head of public affairs and protocol unit, Fabian Benjamin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that though he sympathised with the affected candidates, the rules guiding the conduct of the examination would not permit JAMB to reschedule them for another chance.
Candidates leaving the Adamspring Centre in their raincoats after the examination
Experience in Lagos
Across some centres in Lagos especially at Adamspring CBT centre, Career Builders Academy, both in Badagry; WAEC Testing and Training Centre (WTTC) and Wisdom House Centre, off Yaya Abatan, both in Ogba; Command Secondary School, Ipaja, and Lagooz Schools Orile-Agege, among others, there were reports of candidates who arrived their centres late.
NAN also reported similar experiences at Timeon Kairos Polytechnic and Professional Institute, Ile-Epo, on Lagos Abeokuta Expressway.
At the WAEC centre, some of the affected candidates, who were nine in number, stood by the gate and appealed for reconsideration of their case by the examination body.
Candidates and parents waiting outside the Adamspring CBT centre
At least six candidates missed the examination at the two centres in Badagry, even as they were asked to go home by JAMB officials.
The resident monitor at Adamspring CBT Centre, Saliu Amolegbe, confirmed that the downpour did not only cause some students to arrive late but also caused some setbacks in the examination process.
“The rain set us back a bit in everything today but because it is an assignment that has time, we had to come out to attend to the candidates. We had to give them an extra 30 minutes to get ready for the examination,” Mr Amolegbe said.
He said: “All centres around Badagry started the first session at 8:30a.m because of the rain so that we can allow time for latecomers. We didn’t start the verification until 7:30a.m instead of 7 a.m. So all those who came after 8:40a.m couldn’t write the examination because as soon as the questions were pushed on the server, no students could be verified again.
“About three candidates came late and were asked to go home. If we allowed them we would be questioned.”
He noted that the window of 30 minutes given should be enough for candidates to get to their centres and settle down for the examination.
The supervisor at the centre, Sonde Abiola, said the centre recorded no hitch as of the time our reporter visited.
“The rain delayed us for a while during the first session but we are good. The network is fine,” Mrs Abiola said.
At the Career Builders Academy, a parent, who identified himself simply as Mr Ikechukwu, said he brought his child for the 9 a.m. session and confirmed that three students were barred from writing the examination for coming late.
Mr Ikechukeu and other parents waiting for their children under the rain
Mr Ikechukwu said: “I got here a few minutes to 9a.m and I met some people who came late trying to get in for the 8a.m session, but after going up and down without success they left for their houses.”
Meanwhile, some of the affected candidates who spoke to NAN, said they lived in communities in Ogun State and left their homes as early as 5:30 a.m. but were caught in a traffic logjam which they said was caused by flooding and broken down vehicles.
One of them, Chiamaka Ezeaputa, who lives in Ota, near Bells University of Technology (BELLSTECH), Ogun State, said she had alighted from the commercial bus and took a commercial motorcycle at an exorbitant cost, yet couldn’t get to her centre until 9:20 a.m. Premium Times
Students, Parents waiting at Digital Bridge Institute, Utako
‘No rescheduling of examination for latecomers’
JAMB spokesman, Mr Benjamin, told NAN that the development is unfortunate but that technical consideration would not allow the examination body to reschedule the examination.
He was quoted to have said: “If for instance, something happened to a centre as a whole, or there is a technical collapse in a centre, that one is understandable and the board could start considering a way out of it.
“But a situation where some candidates for the examination at a specific schedule attempted the examination, while others failed to, for whatever reason, that examination will not be rescheduled. Premium Times
