The House of Representatives has urged the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) to extend the registration for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examination by two weeks.
The House also mandated relevant Committee on Education and Legislative compliance to enforce strict compliance.
The decision of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved at the plenary on Thursday by Hon. Bello Shinkafi.
Moving the motion, the lawmaker said JAMB was established by law to register and Conduct the UTME for the purpose of admitting candidates into the tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Shinkafi said that the 2024 UTME which commenced from 15th January ended on 26th February, 2024.
The lawmaker noted, “We are all aware of the painful economic situation prevailing in the Country. As result, many families have been constrained from registering their wards, by this timeline.”
He expressed worry that without extension of the registration, many candidates would not be able to register and participate in the exercise, saying that means there would not be a wider coverage and participation in this year’s UTME in Nigeria.
Shinkafi added: “Convinced that your quick response to the extension of time by two weeks will encourage the Parents of these candidates to persistently register their children. Importantly this will re-assure the public on the confidence in this current Administration in Nigeria.”
The lawmaker further expressed worry that the online registration which constituted setback to non conversant candidates who anticipated for the examination participation could not achieve this core objective because of imminent deadline which requires legislative attention and intervention
The House resolved: “House to mandate the JAMB to extend the registration for two weeks to enable the anticipated potential candidates to register for the 2024 UTME.”