National Assembly Reps Criticize Computer-Based UTME

Hon. Oghene Egoh.addressing the National Assembly

The National Assembly has urged the federal government to direct the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) to suspend the computer-based 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

This followed the unanimous adoption of a motion under matters of urgent public importance by Hon. Oghene Egoh.

"There was need for JAMB to revert to the paper examination until the board was ready to conduct a hitch-free Computer Based Test (CBT)",said Egoh.

He expressed worry that over a million candidates who sat for the computer based UTME recorded various degrees of technical faults. Egoh pointed out that the technical hitches jeopardized the candidates’ chances of gaining admission into the universities.

“Already serious admission problem is rocking the nation because already JAMB receives huge allocation from federal government every year.

Hon. Oghene Egoh.

“Yet they charge candidates all manner of fees and majority of the children do not gain admission either because of the technical hitches of the CBT or the post UTME introduced by various tertiary institutions,” Egoh said.

He said that while some candidates are getting conflicting scores in the ongoing exercise, others are complaining of malfunctioning computers.

“There were instances of double-option answers, computers were malfunctioning and suddenly short down causing absurdity that place some candidates in disadvantaged position,” the lawmaker said.

Hon. Aishatu Dukku insisted that JAMB was not ready for the computer based option. “JAMB should make it optional for students on whether to use computer based or pen and paper,” Dukku said. However, Rep. Muhammed Zakari said there was need to consider students in diaspora who are participating in the examination.