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  • News - North West - Kaduna
  • Updated: April 27, 2023

Kaduna: JAMB Officials Threatened With Knives Over Glitches

Kaduna: JAMB Officials Threatened With Knives Over Glitches

Some candidates of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday, threatened officials of the board with knives after they were unable to take the examination at the scheduled time.

PM News reports that the incident took place at Christ Ambassadors College in Sabon Tasha, Kaduna after the candidates could not sit for the Computer-Based Test (CBT) due to technical glitches.

The development raised complaints among both candidates for the examination and their parents.

According to a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), only 150 candidates were able to write the examination in the first batch while 100 each from both the second and third batches.

This resulted in 350 candidates as against the 750 per day, with 250 candidates per batch.

Veronica Isuwa, a candidate whose examination was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. rescheduled for the following day.

Another candidate,  Francis Patrick, told NAN that he was scheduled to write the examination by 12:00 p.m. on April 25 but as at his scheduled time, those who were supposed to write the examination at 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. were still writing because they did not start on time.

“We also heard that some of the computers were logging some candidates out while they still had time remaining to finish the examination.

“I stayed till 6:00 p.m. and eventually could not write the examination. I came this morning only to be told some of us that could not write yesterday were asked to submit their examination slip.

“Now, I do not know what to do,” he said.

Debora Eze, also a candidate, told NAN that she was scheduled to take the examination on Wednesday by 12:00 p.m. but was told that the systems could only accommodate 100 candidates.

“They asked us to wait for further instructions, so we are waiting”, she said.

In response to the accusations, the JAMB Supervisor at the centre, Balkisu Abdullahi, told NAN that the server could not accommodate 250 computers at a time, as intended.

Abdullahi noted that candidates who missed the examination on the first and second day were requested to submit their examination slips to enable the board to reschedule their examination to another day.

She further expressed dissatisfaction with the technical glitches, stating that the Board was working with the centre's management to address the situation. 

The supervised guaranteed parents that none of the candidates will miss the examination.

She urged parents to inculcate good morals in their children, condemning candidates who came to the examination centres with knives.

“The situation on Tuesday was terrifying as some of the candidates were wielding knives and threatening us when we were explaining the technical hitches and what we intended doing to remedy the situation.

“The parents did not also help the issue when rather than calming their children, some of them were shouting at the top of their voice, threatening to take legal action against JAMB,” she added.

Also speaking, the School Manager, Tosin Akinpeloye, explained that the technical hitches occurred due to the upgrade on JAMB's server to enable it to work well on computers with Co i7 processors.

Akinpeloye said that the school's computer centre had 260 laptops and 20 desktop computers but running on Co i5 processors, adding that a server that would accommodate all the computers had been brought.

“I assure you that all the candidates that will write the examination on Thursday will do so without a hitch,” she said.

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