They said apart from giving them enough time to answer their questions and be in a relaxed mood, JAMB was responsible (except N4,700 exam fee) for their transportation and that of their guide persons from their homes to the exam centres, hotel accommodation for those who could not go home as well as feeding.
The blind candidates just like their other mates were assessed in a total of 20 subjects including the use of English and Mathematics with each sitting for four subjects as applicable to their proposed courses of study and they were allowed to make use of either braille, computer or typewriter as convenient.
But unlike regular candidates, who sit their papers once, blind candidates write their own papers per subject and a special group of senior academics and special education experts, among others known as Equal Opportunity Group with the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola as chairman is saddled with the responsibility of the conduct of the exam for them.
Meanwhile, over 1.8 million candidates in all including the blind sat this year’s UTME nationwide and with blind candidates as usual featured as the last batch.
Tribune Online monitored the exercise on Thursday at the University of Lagos(UNILAG), Akoka, which served as the centre for the blind candidates from both Lagos and Ogun States. The centre has 75 candidates, the second largest
Speaking with the candidates at the centre, some of them told Saturday Tribune that they would have found it difficult to participate in the exam and that would have certainly shut the door against their ambition for higher education should JAMB did not accord them the special treatment.
They said they were desperate to have tertiary education so that it would be easier to achieve their aspirations for life, adding that they would never be a liability to anybody.
One of them, Mubarak Abdulmumuni, 19, said he believes he did well in his exam and would certainly obtain enough marks to secure his admission to study English Language at the University of Ilorin.
The chairman of the Equal Opportunity Group, Prof Peter Okebukola, who with some members of the group, directly supervised the exam at the centre, said a total of 383 blind candidates participated in the exam nationwide and at 11 designated centres across the country.
He said the figure was higher than those of the two previous years which were 332 for 2021 and 351 for 2020 and out of which 110 (representing 33%) and 89 (representing 25%) of their respective total gained admission into various schools for their choice courses including Law, science, Mass Communication, Mathematics, Engineering and so forth.
He asserted that the group had in the last five years when it was constituted processed over 2,200 candidates for UTME with more than one-third of them admitted to courses of their choice in universities and higher colleges across the country.
He said the goal of the special consideration is to ensure that no Nigerian who is qualified is denied the opportunity to sit for UTME irrespective of disability, noting that the system is actually increasing enrolment of blind and other students with a disability such as down syndrome and autism in the country.
He said Nnamdi Azikiwe University Akwa alone, for instance, admitted up to 23 blind UTME candidates last year while the University of Ilorin and the Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, as well as UNILAG, admitted 11, 21 and 3 respectively.
He said though those figures might look small, the impact on knowledge and skills acquisition particularly as concerned students with special needs is certainly huge for Nigeria and its economy.
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