The JAMB Registrar has also announced that 2019 UTME form will be out by October 2018.
The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, Professor Ishaq Oloyede has said that the 2019 general elections would not affect the board’s 2019/2020 examination.
Oloyede made the announcement while responding to questions from journalists at the 2018 Annual Sobo Sowemimo Lecture of the Abeokuta Club in Abeokuta.
“I don’t think there will be any need for a shift in the examination date because of the 2019 general elections. I believe INEC has done well by giving us a prior notice six months ago.
“They have given us the date of the elections. So we have no excuse not to have adjusted. We have adjusted appropriately,”
He added that JAMB would adopt stiffer measures to check incidences of unqualified candidates from applying and writing the examination for the 2019/2020 admission exercise.
2019 UTME process to begin in October 2018
The JAMB registrar also announced that the exam body would begin the 2019/2020 examination process by October, adding that the procedure for the upcoming UTME would be better than the last one.
“We are on with the 2018/2019 admission exercise. This, we started just about a month ago. We believe that by the end of October, we would then begin the 2019/2020 admission.
“I can assure you that we are fine-tuning and learning from our mistakes last year. We are perfecting the processes and procedures, ensuring that no one is allowed to have undue advantage over the others.''
Oloyede further explained that JAMB has put measures in place to ensure that all applicants are minimally qualified.
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“It is difficult to say the exact number of applicants we are expecting this time. We expect to crash the number because many of those who are taking the forms are not even prepared or qualified for the exam.
“Some are SS1 students, who are just trying; contributing N5,000 unduly to our purse. We are putting in place some checks to make people who want to apply to be minimally qualified.
“That’s where we are moving to, rather than creating unrealistic figures. We cannot say actually this is the figure but we are trying to ensure that we don’t have unnecessary luggage.
“We are not interested in the money. We are interested in having adequate preparation for those who are genuine students,”
Meanwhile, post-UTME screening for the 2018 UTME has started in all tertiary institutions across the country.