Some candidates for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) threatened officials of The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Kaduna with knives on Tuesday.
The incident happened at the Christ Ambassadors College in Sabon Tasha, Kaduna Centre.
The candidates threatened the officials after they could not sit for the examination due to technical hitches.
Many candidates could not sit for the examination at the centre resulting in complaints from some of the candidates and their parents.
A correspondent who monitored the exercise on Wednesday reported that only 150 candidates wrote the examination in the first batch, and 100 each in the second and third batch.
This amounted to 350 candidates as against the 750 per day, with 250 candidates expected to write the examination per batch.
One of the candidates, Francis Patrick, told NAN that he was scheduled to write the examination by 12 p.m. on April 25.
Patrick, however, said that as of 12:00 p.m., those that were supposed to write the examination at 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. were still writing because they did not start on time.
“We also heard that some of the computers were logging some candidates out while they still had time remaining to finish the examination.
“I stayed till 6:00 p.m. and eventually could not write the examination. I came this morning only to be told some of us that could not write yesterday were asked to submit our examination slips.
“Now, I do not know what to do,” he fumed.
Another candidate, Veronica Isuwa, said she was supposed to write the examination at 9:00 a.m., but was rescheduled for the following day.
Debora Eze, also a candidate, told NAN that she was supposed to sit for the examination on Wednesday by 12:00 p.m. but was told that the systems could only accommodate 100 candidates.
“They asked us to wait for further instructions, so we are waiting”, she said.
Responding to the issue, the JAMB Supervisor at the centre, Mrs Balkisu Abdullahi, explained that the server could not accommodate 250 computers at a time, as planned.
Abdullahi said that candidates who missed the examination on the first and second days were asked to submit their examination slips to enable JAMB to reschedule their examination to another day.
She regretted the technical hitches, adding that JAMB was working with the centre management to address the issue, just as she assured parents that no child would miss the examination.
She however advised parents to guide their children and inculcate good morals in them, saying that coming to examinations with knives was unacceptable.
“The situation on Tuesday was terrifying as some of the candidates were wielding knives and threatening us when we were explaining the technical hitches and what we intended to do to remedy the situation.
“The parents did not also help the issue when rather than calming their children, some of them were shouting at the top of their voices, threatening to take legal action against JAMB,” she added.
On her part, the School Manager, Mrs Tosin Akinpeloye, explained that the technical hitches occurred because the JAMB server was upgraded to work well on computers with Co i7 processors.
Akinpeloye said that the school computer centre had 260 laptops and 20 desktop computers but running on Co i5 processors, adding that a server that would accommodate all the computers had been brought.
“I assure you that all the candidates that will write the examination on Thursday will do so without a hitch,” she said.
The situation was, however, different at Kaduna State University centre, where the JAMB Coordinator, Mr Benedict Opke, said that the facilities were working perfectly and the candidates well behaved.
One of the candidates at the centre, 15-year-old Favour Bamiboye, who wants to become a doctor, said that the examination went smoothly without a hitch.Similarly, some of the candidates who wrote the examination at Queen Amina College centre commended JAMB, and the school management for a hitch-free exercise.
“This is the first time I am writing the UTME, and I am impressed because everything went smoothly,” one of the candidates at the centre, Hafsat Abubakar has said
