Parents waiting and candidates sitting for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) at the State III Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, were on Tuesday enraged over their fate as several issues marred the exercise.
According to reports from Vanguard, at about 6.30a.m., when the network failure shut out the first set of candidates from taking the Computer Based Test (CBT), the sets for 9.30a.m. and 12.30p.m. equally failed to access the system to take the two-hour examination.
“My son registered in Port Harcourt among the earliest candidates and to be candid, I never felt comfortable with the arrangement when his details printout mentioned Elele, two local government areas apart from Port Harcourt where he registered,” an unidentified frustrated parent said.
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The parent added, “You won’t believe it, we had to come the night before and stayed in a hotel. We live in Port Harcourt and he was scheduled for the very first set at 6.30 am. I never knew JAMB of today fixes exams for as early as 6.30 am in centres far from a candidate’s place of residence.
“And this morning, getting here much before 6.30 am, the children have been made to wait, that there is a network failure they would rectify. But the sets of 9.30 am and 12.30 pm have come in to meet the same challenge. My neighbour has confirmed her daughter who wrote at a Port Harcourt centre has returned home. How frustrating can it get?”
However, after hours of waiting to no avail, one of the officials handling the centre told the angered candidates and parents, “We will send you text messages on when you will be rescheduled to take your exams. You can all go home.”
Also lamenting via twitter, Information Nigeria gathered that a lot of candidates in Rivers had issues sitting for the examinations.
One @officialtgee01 tweeted, “My sis was unable to write her JAMB today in John Wesley ICT centre Bori, Rivers States.
Her exam was slated for 9:00, the generator broke down just before her time started and wasn’t fixed till her time elapsed. What is her fate?”
Another @RuthEnyadike wrote,” Over 200 students didn’t write their jamb today because of poor planning (no power supply, generator was going on and off) at John Wesley Ict center 99/105, bori khana LGA. RIVERS STATE. I’m one of those who didn’t write today.”
Spokesman, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Fabian Benjamin, when contacted said, “All the candidates should wait. The person in charge of that centre would address the problem and if not reschedule those affected for another day. They will surely take the exam.”
