By FUNMILAYO ADEYEMI

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says there is no going back on the March 26 deadline for the registration of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Oloyede said that the deadline remained sacrosanct during the monitoring of the registration at Global Distance Learning Computer Based Centre in Abuja on Monday.

He expressed displeasure at the turnout if candidates at the centre, saying that only one candidate was seen registering at the centre at the time of monitoring.

“Nobody should put pressure on us to come and extend the examination.

“So when it is March 26, you will see people begging us and putting pressure on us that we should extend.

“In our CBT centres, this is what is happening now, they are not coming out to register but one or two days to the closing date, you will see them rushing,” he said.

Oloyede said that five days to the end of the registration, the turnout of candidates was very poor, and advised intending candidates to do the needful before the deadline.

He said that so far, the board had registered over 1.5 million candidates and would go ahead to close the window for registration.

”We are urging the candidates to come out and register. You can see how vacant the registration centres are as big as and efficient as this centre is, only one candidate is there.

“So it shows clearly that students are not coming out or we might have exhausted the number of candidates that are eligible for registration.

“Why we are making this campaign, is to call the attention of the public to the fact that students are not coming out, so that there will be no appeal to the board to extend the date,” he said.

Oloyede said that the extension would not be possible because of other examination bodies they had their slots.

He said the board would not want to encroach into the slots of NECO, WAEC, and NABTEB.

The registrar also complained about the issue of energy problem, saying that the cost of buying diesel to run the CBT centres was becoming unbearable.

He said that the board had opened discussion with the NNPC, saying that after due consultation, the problems would be addressed.

He, therefore, appealed to CBT centres across the country to bear with the present situation as the issues would be resolved soon.

“We are not oblivious of the cost of buying diesel and the energy crisis we are having now. We are in consultation with NNPC.

“We want to know what the situation is and by God’s grace when we have appropriate advice from the NNPC, we will address the issue.

“We are appealing to our partner, the CBT centres to please be patient with us and give efficient service to our people.

“We wouldn’t want people to run at a loss but this is where we are, we will see what we can do to make appropriate consultation and also seek appropriate approval before we can do anything.

“But please continue to render efficient service to our people,” he said.

Joshua Elkanah, the only candidate at the centre visited, said he came late for registration because his boss did not give him the time to register.

Elkanah said he needed permission from his boss before he could go to the CBT centre for registration. (NAN)

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