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Over 1,000 UTME candidates in Lagos protest against results ‘manipulations’

By Ujunwa Atueyi and Wole Oyebade
16 March 2016   |   3:25 am
No fewer than a thousand candidates that sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Lagos, yesterday stormed the...
JAMB Candidates protest in Lagos House of Assembly, yesterday.

JAMB Candidates protest in Lagos House of Assembly, yesterday.

• Worst CBT, far better than PPT, says JAMB

No fewer than a thousand candidates that sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Lagos, yesterday stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, Alausa, to protest alleged manipulations, irregularities and fraud in release of results.

Besides demanding the resignation of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the candidates also urged the Federal Government to order the conduct of a fresh examination.

The protesters, led by a group under the aegis of Concerned Parents and Education Stakeholders, displayed placards with various inscriptions such as “All we are saying, give us our marks”, “Dibu must go”, “Ojerinde: The only stumbling block in education progress” and “Joint Admission Manipulation Board, the professor of test and management has outlived his usefulness”, among others.

Meanwhile, Head of Media of the board, Fabian Benjamin, in a statement issued yesterday, frowned at the protest, which he alleged was instigated by their partners (the proprietors of JAMB accredited centres).

He said that despite the hiccups that surrounded the conduct of the Computer Based Test (CBT), it still could be compared to Paper Pencil Test (PPT).

He said: “It’s no news that the worst CBT is far better than the best Paper and Pencil Test. At least the era of candidates pouring acid on members of staff, bolting with question papers into the bush and all manners of unthinkable embarrassing acts are gone.

“We will continue to show leadership in the conduct of public examination in Africa and beyond. Again, all candidates with genuine complaints are urged to visit any of our offices nationwide. We are not perfect as an organisation but working hard to ensure that Nigerian education is better than it is.”

Displaying one of the leaflets with Dibu’s picture, National President of Association of Tutorial Schools in Nigeria, Olutodotun Shodunke, lamented that over 10,000 candidates missed the UTME, while others had their marks deducted due to alleged clandestine motive by the Registrar.

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