Ishaq Oloyede, Register, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that the board will pay N600 per candidate to all examination centres that will be used for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
He said this in Abuja on Wednesday at the press conference preceding the conduct of the 2018 UTME which begins on Friday. He said the payment to all examination centres was to discourage candidates from paying any amount to examination centres.
He said “The board will continue to honour it’s promise of timely release of agreed sum of N600 per candidate to the centres, no centre is permitted to collect any amount from candidates”.
The Registrar explained that the 2018 UTME registration had a 3.2% decrease from 1,718,425 in 2017 to 1,662,762 candidates in 2018, stressing that this drop is largely due to measures put in place by the board to forestall multiple registration and other unwholesome registration practices by candidates.
Ishaq further assures that all relevant machinery has been made ready to ensure the success of the 2018 UTME which is to commence from Friday, 9th March and end Friday 19th March, adding that the examination will be conducted in 602 centres across the nation.
“The 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be conducted in 602 centres across the nation. The examination is scheduled to commence from Friday 9th March and end Friday 19th March 2018. Every machinery have been put in place to ensure a smooth conduct”.
According to him, the board in collaboration with Equal Opportunity Group of renowned scholars in education will be conducting the examination for the visually impaired candidates as the board is set to provide all necessary support and logistics to the physically challenged candidates for them to attain their educational pursuit.
He urged candidates to strictly adhere to the date and time allocated for the examination stressing that any candidate who is absent for the scheduled examination automatically misses the examination. He added that a number of items which include watches, cameras, recorders, calculators, microphones, spy glasses, ear phones, smart lenses, Bluetooth and storage devices among others have been discovered to aid examination malpractices. stressing that candidates will not be allowed into the examination hall if found with these items.
“Through research, we have discovered a number of items that aid examination malpractices. These include: watches, cameras, recorders, calculators, microphones, spy glasses, cell phones, ear pieces, Bluetooth devices and storage devices among others, all officials, CBT owners and candidates are hereby warned not to bring any of the above banned items into the examination venue as ignorance will not be taken as a defence”.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja
