Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, expressed satisfaction with the rescheduled 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Saturday.
Adamu, who monitored the exam alongside the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, at the Computer Based Test Centre in Mambilla Barracks, Asokoro, Abuja, expressed delight at the exam’s smooth conduct.
Adamu told journalists gathered at the centre, “I am very happy with what I have seen. Regarding the (temporary) holding room (for candidates), and the arrangement where they are taking the examination, I think everything is in order.
“Everything is okay, have you seen any problem? Perhaps they should have a class for the holding room, I think that is the only improvement they will make here,” Adamu said.
Meanwhile, JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in an interview with journalists at the venue, said about 80,000 candidates, who could not sit for the 2023 UTME within their scheduled time owing to no fault of theirs, sat for the rescheduled UTME across the country.
According to the JAMB’s spokesperson, the candidates affected include those who were verified at their centres but could not sit the examination, those who could not be biometrically verified, and those with mismatched data, among others.
He said the deployment of innovations in the conduct of the exam paid off bountifully as the exercise recorded the lowest reported cases of infractions.
“In this year’s UTME, the issue of examination malpractices was reduced to almost zero level,” Benjamin said.
On when the results of the rescheduled UTME would be released by the examination body, Benjamin said the board’s management will analyse the conduct of the exercise after its conclusion before it will make a decision on that.
It was earlier reported that the board on Tuesday released the results of candidates who had earlier taken part in the exam, which commenced on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
A total of 1,586,765 candidates registered for the 2023 UTME.