Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede
Hundreds of students wishing to register for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the Direct Entry (DE) programme and their parents are currently frustrated as they have been unable to complete the process.
MicroSecondNews (MSN) learnt that the knotty part of the registration process is generating the required codes towards setting up profiles using their unique national identification number (NIN).
The process is supposed to be easy, entailing simply sending a text to a shortcode and getting a response in a matter of seconds or minutes.
However, less than 24 hours to the May 15 deadline set by the examination body, very many students and their parents have not been able to obtain their registration codes after sending the text message multiple times.
A parent told MSN: “ My son has sent over 50 SMS messages to 55019 to get his JAMB profile code, all to no avail.”
The anxious parent said after a friend disclosed that he experienced the same thing but overcame by sending many SMS messages, he took over from his son and sent another 50 messages to the shortcode at different times but never got the code.
All he got were assurances that the application was being processed.
Each of the text costs N50.
A JAMB coaching centre operator equally expressed his frustration with the registration process, noting that about 50 of the students he helped to prepare for the exams are yet to complete the registration process, barely 24 hours to the closing of the registration.
An online news platform Premium Times also reported that as of Thursday, only 1,012,000 candidates had so far registered for the UTME, while about 30,000 candidates were able to register for the DE programme.
The figures contrast sharply with about 1.9 million UTME and 200,000 DE candidates captured within the same period in 2020.
“The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) that is responsible for the issuance of NIN is expected to generate the linked number to be transported to candidates as soon as they input their required USSD code. But this has been difficult for the agency due largely to inadequate manpower and lack of required technical skill,” one of the sources told the online platform.
Other sources blame the telecom operators for the delayed response to transporting codes generated to candidates.
Sources at JAMB however told MSN that the organisation would take a look at all the complaints and issues surrounding the process and come up with an announcement later today (Friday).
