From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced new dates for its 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The changes were perhaps due to hitches experienced by thousands of candidates who are trying to register for the examination using the National Identification Number (NIN) made compulsory for all candidates participating in the examination.
JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the new dates at a press conference in Abuja yesterday said that the UTME registration which was supposed to end on May 15, has been extended by two weeks.
The UTME examination, which was hitherto fixed for June 5 to 19, 2021, will now commence on July 19 and run till July 3, 2021, while the mock examination which was supposed to be on May 28, was shifted to June 3.
Oloyede said that the Board remains committed to the credibility of the system, hence it would consider the interest of candidates particularly those having NIN challenges.
He said that the board would dispatch monitoring teams to states during the extension period.
He announced that the board has secured the commitment of the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) to give priority attention to UTME/DE prospective candidates.
He, therefore, advised candidates for Direct Entry procuring their ePIN to specify their category of admission, and where a DE candidate mistakenly purchases an ePIN for UTME, the selling point should rectify the error by swapping the ePIN to DE at no further cost to the candidate.