…As They Spent Over 12 Hours At UNIUYO Centre Without Writing Exam
By Our Reporter
UYO
Some candidates in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) in Akwa Ibom have demanded for apology and possible compensation for subjecting them and their parents to “an endless and agonizing wait” at the Uniuyo centre on Friday, April 25.
They described the situation as heartrending and traumatic.
According to the aggrieved candidates and their parents, JAMB must apologize and also work out a possible compensation plan for the over 200 candidates who went through severe suffering and stress at the UNIUYO centre for over 12 hours without writing an examination which was originally scheduled for 6:30 am on that fateful Friday.
Some of the affected candidates and their parents who spoke with The Pioneer on condition of anonymity for fear of possible victimisation by the examination body, said it was inhuman for JAMB to cause them to waste over 12 hours at the examination centre without any examination being written.
“My daughter and I arrived Uyo on Thursday evening from Calabar in Cross River State for this examination and our plan was that since the exams was originally slated for 6:30 am, we would be back to Calabar after the exams today.
“But from what is happening, we have to spend more money on hotel accommodation and feeding all because of JAMB.
“Where do they expect me to get that extra amount of money from considering the prevailing hardship in the country?
“This is 7pm by my watch and they are telling us to return to the centre tomorrow Saturday for confirmation as to when the examination would be rescheduled, have they considered the financial implications and the suffering they have subjected the candidates and their parents to?” One of the parents lamented.
He demanded for an apology and a possible compensation from JAMB to all the affected candidates.
Also speaking, one of the affected candidates who also refused to have her name in print, described her experience that Friday, as very frustrating.
The candidate who said she was stranded and did not know where to spend her night that Friday considering the fact that she could not go back to Ikot Abasi, her home town, where she came from the previous day (Thursday), so as to be able to meet up the 6:30 time which the examination was slated to commence that Friday.
“I left my village (Ette) yesterday for Uyo so as to enable that I may be at my centre by 6:30 am when my examination was to start.
“Before 7.15am, we were all ushered into the examination hall but surprisingly to all of us, we were inside the hall till 9:20am without writing any examination.
“All we were told by those officials who were willing to talk was that the saver had problem and that they were trying to fix the problem.
“But by 9:30 am, we were instructed to leave the hall so that they could attend to another set of candidates who were already waiting outside for us to finish so that they could enter the hall for their own examination.
“It was at this point that we all shouted demanding to know when we would write our examination; only for us to be told that we would be attended to later in the day.”
“True to this promise, we were given another opportunity around 5:30 in the evening when all of us in that batch were again urshered into the examination hall.
“Though we were all tired and weak due to the hours we had waited, we were yet happy that there was still hope for us.
“Unfortunately for us, our joy was shortlived as there was no signal from JAMB for us to continue with our exams that evening.
“It was at about 7pm, that we were all told to go home and to report back to the centre the following day Saturday for further instructions”, the candidate stated.
Checks by the Pioneer revealed that the inability of the affected candidates numbering over 200 to complete their examination on that fateful Friday as was originally scheduled by JAMB was not the making of the affected candidates, rather, that of the examination body.
It was further gathered that some of the affected candidates were later rescheduled to write their examination the following day, Saturday by 4 Pm.
Efforts by the Pioneer to speak with JAMB officials in the state on the development was not successful as all the officials contacted were of the opinion that they could only speak on the matter when they got official clearance or approval from their headquarters to do so.
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