Saturday, 19th June 2021: Some candidates who took part in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, (UTME), which kicked off nationwide on Saturday, have experienced some difficulties in their attempts to sit for the examination.

Technical challenges experienced by candidates at Certified Shipping Institute of Nigeria, Magbon, along Badagry expressway, led to the cancellation of examination at the centre.

The head of public affairs and protocol of the examination body, Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the development in a chat with CEOAFRICA.

Benjamin said the affected candidates would be rescheduled by JAMB to sit for the examination at a date to be announced soon.

“Yes, we are aware of the difficulty. The affected candidates will be rescheduled,” he said on the phone.

He, however, did not state whether the centre would continue to take part in the ongoing examination or not.

Man shares experience

Meanwhile, a guardian, Andrew Adejo, who said he had accompanied a candidate to the centre, said till around 3 p.m on Saturday when the cancellation was announced, no student was able to sit for the exam at the centre.

He said; “The first batch of candidates were screened and allowed into the examination hall around 7 a.m but till around noon, the network was still said to be bad.

“The centre’s management initially came to announce that the problem was nationwide but when information started to filter in that candidates from other centres had no hitches, candidates, parents and guardians were charged and began agitation.”

Mr. Adejo said he put a call through to JAMB for clarification and that the spokesman for the examination body told him of the cancellation on the phone.

Similar experiences

Also at a computer-based test centre located inside the Government Secondary School, Garki, Abuja, candidates could not start the examination until after 11 a.m.

According to a witness, the candidates for a 7 a.m batch were later divided into two batches due to technical issues with the computers.

“At around 11 a.m, the parents became agitated and attempted to enter the hall. They complained that their wards were hungry and that they should be allowed to go out of the centre to avoid a crisis,” the source, who does not want to be quoted, said.

The source said it took the prompt intervention of the security operatives to bar the parents from gaining entry into the hall.

In Nasarawa State, reports have it that parents on Saturday complained of poor network and malfunctioning of computers at designated CBT centres in the state.

Some of the parents in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state said that the development would affect their children’s performance negatively.

They, however, called on the management of JAMB to ensure that systems at all accredited JAMB centres were working properly so as not to shortchange candidates sitting for the examination.

But they lauded security agents for restricting the movement of people around and within the examination hall.

Mr Ayuba Joshua, a parent whose son was writing UTME, expressed disappointment over the challenge of poor network and malfunctioning of computers.

He said; “We have been here since morning, some of the students that are supposed to sit examinations at 9 a.m examinations have complained of poor network and malfunctioning of systems.

“They have told us that keyboards and mouses are not functioning well and some of them are still in the examination hall due to a bad network.

“Our problem is also that applicants who are meant to sit for their examination at 1p.m are yet to commence at 3.45pm. We don’t know what has been happening since 9 a.m.”