By-Clement Idoko-Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has extended its 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration exercise by one week starting from Wednesday, 15th February 2023.
The Board has also disclosed that 1,527,068 candidates had successfully registered for the 2023 UTME exercise, including the 168,748 who indicated their interest in taking the Mock-UTME.
Head Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who announced this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, explained that by this extension, the sale of ePINs would end on Monday, 20th February 2023, while the UTME registration ends on Wednesday, 22nd February 2023.
Recall that in line with the Board’s 2023 Schedule of activities, as earlier released, the closing date for the sale of both the ePINs and the 2023 UTME application documents was slated for Tuesday, 14th February 2023.
The statement read in part: “At the close of the sale of ePINs on Tuesday, 14th February, 2023, 1,527,068 candidates had succesfully registered for the 2023 UTME exercise inclusive of the 168,748, who indicated their interest to take the Mock-UTME.
“It should also be noted that the Board, based on its projections, had expanded its capacity to register up to a hundred thousand candidates per day. With this, it was possible to register all desiring candidates within the space of a few days.
“However, less than fifty thousand candidates were turning up for registration which is less than the installed registration capacity. Surprisingly, in the last two days before the closing date, the pace picked up remarkably with over a hundred thousand candidates registering on a daily basis.
“Furthermore, the Board, as a responsive and proactive agency, took cognisance of the reports from across the country indicating some difficulties being faced by many Nigerians in using their electronic channels to purchase the ePINs or obtain cash readily within the stipulated period.
“It has, as a consequence, granted this extension to ensure that all candidates who desire to register for the 2023 UTME are given the opportunity to do so expecially when the extant challenges are not of their own making” he said.
The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Oloyede had during the weekend said the Board would extend the registration deadline but had to bow to pressure because of high number of candidates still turning out for registration.
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