The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has recorded a decrease in the number of registered candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) in 2018.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, said that a total number of 1, 662, 762 candidates registered for the 2018 UTME, within a period of two months, as against a total of 1,718,425 candidates who registered within one month in 2017.
He explained that the decrease of 3.2 per cent was largely, as a result of measures put in place by the board to forestall multiple registrations and other unwholesome registration practices by candidates.
Oloyede also noted that a total of 367 visually impaired candidates registered for the 2018 examination as against the 201 candidates of 2017.
He said that the board will continue to provide all necessary support and logistics to the physically challenged candidates in order to encourage them to attain their pursuit for knowledge.
According to the registrar, the board recorded a pleasantly high number of candidates for the 2018 UTME examinations from foreign countries.
He, however, said that the board was yet to get the actual statistics from the various embassies, adding that those who applied for the examinations would commence after the local centres have concluded.
On admissions, the registrar said that the board has since concluded the 2017 admissions into tertiary institutions.
He said that the admission was conducted using the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), automated the admission platform and provided the candidates with the opportunity to track their admissions.
According to him, this system ensure strict adherence to admission guidelines thereby creating equity and fairness in admission and was responsible for timely completion of the admission. (NAN)
