The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has registered over 300,000 candidates for its 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in one week.

The Board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.

Benjamin said that this was coming a week after the commencement of the registration exercise.

NAN reports that the board commenced registration of candidates for the 2019 all Computer Based Test (CBT) on Jan.10 and it would close on Feb. 21.

According to him, the registration so far has been seamless, and the board is happy with the development.

“We are happy with the way the process is going; we hope it will continue this way.

“So far, we have registered over 300,000 candidates as at Thursday.

“We are happy there have not been issues because so far, there is just a tiny gap between the number of candidates that have acquired the e-pin and that of those that have registered,” he said.

Meanwhile JAMB had insisted that all candidates with issues of biometrics must go over to Abuja for it to be rectified.

“I want to reiterate the fact that only the Registrar of the board has the sole right to attend to such issues.

“Any candidate who may have issues with the capturing of his or her finger prints at their respective points of registration will need to come down to our office in Abuja.

“This will require the Chief Executive to do it himself for the purpose of security,” Benjamin said.

This, however, was contrary to calls by some stakeholders urging the board to set up special centres in every state of the country to tackle issues.

The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) had argued that asking candidates with biometric issues to travel all the way to Abuja to get such issues sorted out was too demanding, citing dangers of transportation, fares, among others.

Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, the second Deputy National President of the Association, said that most parents were barely struggling to get money to get their children and wards registered.

Ogunbanjo said that for those with such biometric issues, travelling to Abuja was an additional burden. (NAN)