No fewer than 80,000 candidates, on Saturday, May 6, sat for the rescheduled 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across the country.

The spokesperson of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Dr Fabian Benjamin, made the disclosure while monitoring the exercise in Abuja on Saturday.

Benjamin said about 80,000 candidates who could not sit for the 2023 UTME within their scheduled time owing to no fault of theirs, sat for the rescheduled UTME across the country.

He said candidates affected include those who were verified at their centres but could not sit the examination, those who could not be biometrically verified and those with mismatched data, among others.

The JAMB spokesman said the deployment of innovations in the conduct of the exam paid off as the exercise recorded the lowest reported cases of infractions.

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“In this year’s UTME, issue of examination malpractices was reduced to almost zero level,” he stated.

Speaking on the results of the rescheduled UTME, Benjamin said the board’s management would analyse the conduct of the exercise after its conclusion and take a decision.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who also monitored the examination alongside JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the rescheduled 2023 UTME.

Adamu, who was at a Computer Based Test (CBT) centre at Mambila Barracks in the Asokoro area of Abuja, expressed delight over the smooth conduct of the exercise.

“I am very happy with what I have seen. The (temporary) holding room (for candidates), and the arrangement in the conduct of the examination is in order,” the minister said.

Adamu, who said there were no negative incidents recorded in the conduct of the UTME at the CBT centre, made a case for a temporary holding place for candidates waiting for the scheduled time of the exam.

“Everything is okay, have you seen any problem? Perhaps they should have a class for the holding room, I think that is the only improvement they will make here,” he added.

JAMB had, on May 2, released the results of candidates who had earlier taken part in the examination which commenced on April 25, 2023.

The Star