Minor hitches as over 1.3m candidates sit for 2021 UTME/DE

 The 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry commenced on Saturday nationwide with minor technical challenges in some of the Computer Based Test (CBT) centres.

About 1, 338, 687 registered for the UTME and 75, 328 for the DE nationwide.

The examinations, which are being conducted in about 757 CBT centres, will end on July 5th.

At the Nigeria Army officer’s wife association (NAOWA) Institute of Management and Technology located at Mambila Baracks Asokoro FCT, candidates and parents were seen hanging around the centre.

The first session started around 8:10AM and finished almost to 11 while the second session started by 11AM and finished almost after an hour.

A candidate who wrote in the first session described the conduct of the examination as “smooth.”

“Everything went well unlike last year. I am hopeful of making it this year,” a candidate who gave his name only as Paul said.

Centre Administrator, Nigeria Army officer’s wife association (NAOWA) Institute of Management and Technology located at Mambila Baracks Asokoro FCT, Nwosu Ernest said: “Unlike last year, some students had issues of biometric capturing during entrance into the examination halls. This year we have not recorded any.

“Students wrote their exams without any complain. We are hoping the examination will continue smoothly till the end.”

However, at the Government Secondary School, Garki, Abuja, the examination was not so smooth because of network challenges.

Some of the candidates who arrived early for the examination could only take part in the first session.

The remaining candidates were subsequently relocated to Tundun Wada, Wuse to continue with the examinations.

JAMB’S Head of Media, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, could not be reached for comments as calls to his mobile phone rang out as of the time of filing this report.

At Blue Ocean Technology Centre, Dutse, the examination went well as candidates completed the two sessions for the day.

The first session started around 8:30AM and finished by 11AM. The second session commenced immediately.