The first-batch of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) at Ekiti State University (EKSU) CBT centre in Ado-Ekiti was, on Friday, postponed indefinitely due to faulty biometric system.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who monitored the exercise across the 12 centres in the state, reports that the development left some of the affected candidates stranded for hours.
As at 11:00 a.m. when NAN visited the centre, the first batch of the candidates, scheduled to begin their examination by 7:00 a.m., had yet to be cleared through the biometric, as the system was malfunctioning.
NAN reports that the development also created altercation between UTME officials, particularly the State Chief External Examiner of UTME, Mrs Smaranda Olarinde, who was on monitoring visit to the centre and some aggrieved parents of the candidates.
Some of the parents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that they had arrived the state a day earlier with their children and that they had been at the centre as early as 6:00 a.m. only to be confronted with the biometric issue.
The parents, who expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the examination at the centre, said that the security situation in the country forced them to accompany their children to the centre for the examination.
A candidate, Gideon Adejuyigbe, expressed disappointment with the indefinite rescheduling of the examination.
Adejuyigbe said that the situation had further been compounded by the fact that some of the candidates were expected to commence their West Africa School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in a few days’ time.
NAN reports that the second batch of candidates at the centre was later cleared through the biometric to undertake their examinations at about 1:00 p.m.
Olarinde said that the clearance was made possible due to the efforts of the JAMB technical personnel in the state.
Addressing the affected candidates, the JAMB official said that their examinations had been rescheduled and asked them to always check their profile portals for information on the new date.
“We have been working round the clock to ensure that the technical problem is resolved but as it is now, your examination will be rescheduled.
“Candidates for the second batch are already in the hall and they will be followed by the third batch. So I want to implore you to be patient and always check on your profile portals from now on for developments on the examination,” she said.
Earlier, the JAMB Coordinator in the state, Alhaji Akeem Alaaya, said that the exercise recorded significant improvement over the previous ones.
“In a situation where you have only two or three candidates being absent out of 200 in a centre, I think it’s 95 per cent improvement compare with the previous exercises where more than 20 candidates could be absence in a centre.
Alaaya also expressed satisfaction with the general conduct of the candidates, especially as regards compliance with the laid down rules and regulations.
“The candidates have been very cooperative and orderly and this is highly commendable,” he said.
Other centres visited by NAN included: JAMB Ekiti office centre on New Iyin Road, Ado-Ekiti, Afe Babalola CBT Centre, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti Centre and Federal University, Oye-Ekiti centre, amongst others. (NAN)