*Parents, candidates groan as computers fail at CBT Centers
Tension rose to its feverish pitch at several Computer Based Centers used by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as the computers deployed for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), failed to upload the questions assigned to majority of the candidates.
At the CBT Centers visited in Garki, Utako, Gwarimpa, Kubwa and Dawaki area in the FCT, several candidates who were slated for 7am and 9am UTME had not written their Examinations as at 12 noon when our reporters visited the centers.
The candidates and their parents were generally confused with several of them milling around under the scorching sun as they were not allowed to enter the premisis.
At the centers in Dawaki and Utako, the candidates had to struggle into the halls irrespective of whether they were assigned morning or afternoon session, believing that they might not write their papers today if they didn’t do so.
At a point during the imbriglio, some of the candidates fainted and had to be provided with emergency healthcare services by passersby and parents who claimed they were medical personnel.
However, the operators of the CBTs were generally cautious and appealed to the students to calm down, promising that they will all write their examinations today.
At one of the centers where the proprietor volunteered to speak, though anonymously, he said “the problems we are encountering is poor network linking up with the JAMB server. Another problem is the tripping off of the systems as the candidates write the examination, but we have capable ICT personnel who were able to rectify such issues in no time.
“We assure all those who are yet to write their Examinations that we shall not leave this place until all of them have written their papers. It is true we experienced some hiccups, but we are working hard to rectify such through regular contact with the JAMB office”.
As at 7pm when our reporters left one of the centers in Kubwa, prospective university undergraduates were still milling around waiting for the opportunity to write their papers as none of them was willing to engage in such suffering another day.
“The CBT officials gave forms which we filled. They said they will return the forms if eventually we couldn’t write our papers today. But they gave us the promise that we shall write the exam.
“We dint want to go home today because we can’t guarantee we shall be given the opportunity to write the exam again if it fails today since JAMB has scheduled us for today.
“In addition, we suffered so much since morning, just standing and milling around because there were no sits for us outside here.
“Pray for us to still remember what we have read because all the inconveniences suffered will certainly affect our ability to recall some of the things we read,” One of the candidates who simply identified himself as Gift said.
Another candidate, Musbau, blamed their ordeal on the usual “Nigerian way of doing things”, adding that they will give assurances but in the end, it will not work and nobody will be punished for it.
“Our government has been most unfair to us the young ones. Those managing the Federal Ministry of Education and JAMB didn’t pass through this ordeal, which occurs every year”.
A parent, Alhaji Baba Mohammed, blamed tardy arrangements from JAMB and inability to learn from the past and effect corrections as the cause of the problems.
“This type of problem occurs every year, yet, JAMB learns no lesson from it.
“I wonder why ordinary writing an exam is always a huge problem in Nigeria. This kind of thing don’t happen in other countries. Are we coursed in this country?” he asked.
Efforts to get Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Public Relations Officer of JAMB to react to the issues failed, as he refused to pick calls put through to him.
