Insurgency affected candidate registration in the North-east – JAMB

Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on Thursday in Abuja said that the effects of insurgency are visible in the registration of applicants in the North Eastern part of the country for this year’s UTME examination.

The Registrar disclosed this information at a press conference that was held at the National Commission for Colleges of Education in Abuja Themed: “Problems and Solutions.”

The Registrar disclosed that as at the morning of the briefing, over 1.12million slips had been printed out for candidates containing all the necessary details for the 2015 UTME, Computer Based Test, CBT, against the 1.4 million registered candidates.

He stated there had been a sharp decline in the number of registered candidates in the North Eastern states in the country due to the insurgency in the region.

Giving a breakdown of the ten lowest applicants by State, Niger with 18, 228, Borno; 15, 692, Taraba; 15, 672, Adamawa; 15, 613, Jigawa; 12, 663, Yobe; 10, 044, Sokoto; 10, 004, Kebbi; 8, 946, Zamfara; 5, 291 and the FCT; 4, 085 were listed.

Prof. ‘Dibu said the statistics show that there was a sharp decline in applications from these red zones, nevertheless, he assured Nigerians that necessary security measures had been put in place at each centre around the country for peaceful conduct of the examination.

He revealed that the Board would be working closely with special security forces like the Police, State Security Services, SSS, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, throughout the exercise.

He also said deliberate measures had been taken to ensure peace in the North East but stated that further information concerning the workings of the security details would be held back for security purposes.