UPDATE: Mass failure, Reps summon JAMB Registrar

Reactions trailing the mass failure of candidates in this year's
Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination,UTME,have continued as the
House of Representatives has summoned the Registrar of the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board,JAMB, Prof Dibu Ojerinde.

Although investigations showed that the failure had a lot to do with
some of the candidates' reliance on answers provided by fraudsters,
other candidates have claimed that the use of computer affected their
performance.

The result of the examination as released by JAMB showed many students
scoring below 150, out of the 400 marks, with only 10 scoring above
300.

Speaking on the matter, Thursday, Chairman, House Committee on
Education, Hon. Aminu Suleiman said that the summons became necessary
due to series of complaints and protests by a cross section of
Nigerians.

"We heard that JAMB authorities had formally explained some reasons
for the mass failure.

"This is not enough if the content of the complaints of Nigerians is
anything to go by. One of the complaints concerns the usage of
computer for the exam that most of them had never had contact with
before.

"It can be recalled that the House passed a resolution asking JAMB not
to use computer for the 2013 exams and they said they would make it
optional; but there were still complaints by candidates that some of
them filled the manual or paper option only to find themselves being
asked to write the exams using computers", he said.

The lawmaker added that the mass failure might not be unconnected with
the introduction of computers for the exams, bearing in mind that most
candidates, especially from Government secondary schools were not
exposed to computer before.

Accordingly, he said the committee was poised to finding a lasting
solution to the perennial failure of Nigerians in the last JAMB
examination.