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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has registered over 300,000 candidates for its 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in one week, News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports.
The Head, Media and Information of the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made this known on Friday in Lagos.
Benjamin said that this was coming a week after the commencement of the registration exercise.
Recall that the board commenced registration of candidates for the 2019 Computer Based Test (CBT) on January 10 and it will close on February 21.
According to him, the registration so far has been easy and the board is happy with the development.
“We are happy with the way the process is going; we hope it will continue this way.
“So far, we have registered over 300,000 candidates as at Thursday.
“We are happy there have not been issues because so far, there is just a tiny gap between the number of candidates that have acquired the e-pin and that of those that have registered,” he said.
In the mean time, JAMB has reiterated that all candidates with issues of biometrics must go over to Abuja for it to be rectified.
“I want to reiterate the fact that only the Registrar of the board has the sole right to attend to such issues.
“Any candidate who may have issues with the capturing of his or her finger prints at their respective points of registration will need to come down to our office in Abuja.
“This will require the Chief Executive to do it himself for the purpose of security,” Benjamin said.
This is in contrast to calls by some stakeholders asking the board to set up special centers in every state of the country to tackle the issue.
The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) had stated that asking candidates with biometric issues to travel all the way to Abuja to get such issues sorted out was too demanding, citing dangers of transportation, fares, among other things.
The second Deputy National President of the Association, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo said most parents are still struggling to get money to get their children and wards registered.
Ogunbanjo said that for those with such biometric issues, travelling to Abuja will be an additional burden.