•Test holds in in 887 CBT centres

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has deployed more than 10,000 officials to 887 centres across the country to monitor this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME). Besides, the board also provided other personnel to monitor the conduct of the examination. JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this at a dialogue organised by the Education Writers Association of Nigeria (EWAN), with the theme: “2025 UTME: Lessons from Mock Test and the Future of Tech-Driven Examination in Nigeria.”

Speaking at the programme held virtually, the chairman of the committee, Iyabo Lawal, explained that the association seeks to promote discussions on burning issues in the education sector through the dialogue, and explore means to address them.

EWAN Chairman, Mojeed Alabi, said the dialogue concerns the future of about two million candidates who are sitting for the test this week. He stressed the need for Nigerians to know how prepared the examination body is.

Benjamin, who denied the allegations that JAMB was sending candidates to centres far from their locations, added that the process is designed in such a way that students themselves select examination towns, and the board thereafter allocate them to centres within that locality.

He said: “What we ensure is that we don’t want one centre in an examination town. The minimum number of centres that will be allowed in the examination town must be four, so you could be posted in any of those centres that are within the examination town.”

The test is to be held in 887 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres across the federation. The Guardian reports that over two million candidates are participating in the exercise.

No fewer than 501 visually-impaired candidates are also set to take the examination in 11 centres across the country. Chairman of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Professor Emeritus Peter Okebulola, made this known while addressing newsmen in Abuja. (The Guardian)