Intending candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Okitipupa, Okitpupa Local Government Area of Ondo State has besieged the National Idenfication Number (NIN) centre at the council secretariat over the extention of the UTME registration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on May 15 extended the UTME registration to May 29 in order to allow candidates register for the NIN which has become a prerequite for the exams.
A check by NAN to the NIN centre on Monday in Okitipupa Secretariat revealed that many candidates were seen struggling to ensure that they beat JAMB deadline for the UTME registration extention.
Some of the candidates who spoke with NAN in separate interviews said that the NIN process was too slow, appealing to the officials to speed up ontheir duties.
They also lamented that some parents who came with their children are buying their way through to get the NIN done at all cost which left many of them at the mercy of being on the queue.
Ayodele Igbasan, a student who said he was trying to beat the JAMB deadline said that the process of the NIN was too cumbersome which slow down the process of registration.
“We are trying to beat JAMB deadline but the process of registration is too slow for us and that is why we are still here since morning,” he said.
A candidate, Bosede Ikumapayi also said that many parents who followed their children to the centre were buying their was through thereby leaving many who are on the queue at the mercy of the NIN officials.
Another candidate, Segun Samuel appealed to to the NIN officials to attend to UTME candidates first before attending to those who the NIN was not too important for at the moment saying that candidates who are writing the UTME must beat the JAMB deadline.
Meanwhile, an official of the NIN who pleaded anonymity because he was not permitted to speak with the press simply told NAN that the process was going on fine but attributed slow network as factor in the registration process.
“I think the process is going on fine, network issues can not ruled out and we are also trying out best to control the crowd,” the official said.
NAN reports that JAMB extended the UTME registration by two weeks, sighting candidates challenges ranging from wrong NIN to generate profile code and multiple phone numbers to generate the code at CBT centres.among others. (NAN)