The extension announced the week before expired on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, prompting the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to finally decide to call time on the 2023 UTME registration process.
This information was revealed in a statement released on Wednesday by Fabian Benjamin, the board’s head of public affairs and protocol.
Remember that the Board had given the extension to candidates who, due to circumstances related to recent events in the nation, were unable to register for the 2023 UTME within the permitted window of Saturday, 14th January to Tuesday, 14th February, 2023.
At the close of the registration exercise, about 1.6m candidates had successfully registered for the 2023 UTME. This number does not include the Direct Entry component of the exercise, which commenced on Monday, 20th February 2023, before it was put on hold on Tuesday, 21st February 2023.
The Registrar’s monitoring team, which according to the statement, had gone round the country, was in Nasarawa and Delta States on the final day of the exercise to oversee its conclusion.
In Asaba, Delta State, the team visited Trinity Innovation Hub CBT Centre; Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku CBT Centre 1 and 2; Delta State Library CBT and others.
It was, however, remarkable that none of these centres had any candidates waiting to be registered indicating that almost all candidates, who desired to register for the exercise had done so.
“The same situation was replicated in many centres in Nasarawa State as few candidates were seen at all the centres a day to the closing date and even these were cleared before the close of work. Hence, from every indication, this year’s exercise is shaping up to be the smoothest the Board has ever had, the statement said.
“Based on reports received from the various monitoring teams across the country, the Board would review its SIM number swap policy as it will now require the Telcos to confirm that the old SIM being put forward for swapping previously belonged to the applicant but had been issued to another person, which would, therefore, preclude the possibility of a SIM welcome back before such swapping would be approved”, it added.