UTME : Senate advocates CBT Centres across 774 LGs

The Nigerian Senate has called for the provision of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board JAMB CBT Centres in 774 local government areas in the country.

The call was made through its committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND on Friday while inspecting the JAMB CBT examination centres in Abuja.

ICT centres are the Information and Communication Technology centres where candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions across the country sit for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination ( UTME) conducted by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board ( JAMB) being computer based examinations ( CBT).

Speaking to newsmen at Aduvie International School , Jahi , Abuja ,during monitoring of the ongoing UTME , the Chairman of the Committee , Senator Mohammed Muntari Dandutse ( APC Katsina South) , frowned at non – existence of the examination centres in some local government area councils of the federation .

He said since the Senate and by extension , the federal government, want Nigerians to study in Nigeria , access for such education through important examinations like UTME , should be made easy for them .

” In making it easy for candidates seeking admissions into Universities or other tertiary Institutions through UTME , the ICT centres must be made available in all the 774 local government councils across the country .

” I am from Katsina South Senatorial District where only two out of the eleven local government councils , have ICT centres for UTME .

,”Since the Examination is computer based , centres for it , need to be made available across the 774 local government councils in the country and in doing this , this committee of the Senate in collaboration with our colleagues in the House of Representatives , shall facilitate budgetary provisions for it in 2026 fiscal year “, he said .

Earlier in his explanation to members of the committee , the spokesperson of JAMB , Fabian Benjamin, told them that JAMB has 880 ICT centres across the country but admitted that the centres are not across the 774 local government councils .

” JAMB presently has close to 900 ICT centres across the country and in fact precisely 880 centres which however do not cover all the 774 local government councils across the country .

” JAMB shall be happy if the committee facilitates budgetary provisions for establishment of ICT centres in local government councils across the country that are yet to have one “, he said .

He allayed the fear raised by some members of the committee on envisaged malfunctioning of the system provided for candidates by declaring that the system has been programmed in a way that its functionality , will not in any way , affect the performance of candidates in the exam ,

The Committee which had Senators Jibrin Isah ( Kogi East), Diket Plang ( Plateau Central ) etc, on the oversight tour , first visited Government Secondary School , Wuse Zone 3 for monitoring of the UTME , where its Chairman , expressed satisfaction with what JAMB put on the ground for smooth conduct of the examination .