NEWS UPDATE: JAMB candidates protest in Ebonyi over denial to write the exams

Business activities were halted for several hours in Abakaliki Ebonyi state capital following protest by over 100 candidates of the Joint Administration and Matriculation Board who registered but were denial to write the exams in some of the centers in the state.


The students claimed that they were splitted into two sections at Stella Maris Center in Ohaukwu local government area of Ebonyi state since the hall and available computers could not accommodate all of them but after the first section, there was no time to conduct the exams for the second batch.


The protesters also included other candidates who alleged what they described as "mysterious" disappearance of their results in the Board website after it had been reportedly released.


They carried placards with various inscriptions such as: JAMB don't frustrate our academic pursuit; we are disappointed in JAMB; we were denied exams after registration; JAMB release our results among others.


One of the candidates who identified herself as Okorie Felicia noted that the JAMB officials told them to wait those their exams would be rescheduled since there was no space and computers to accommodate them.


She said: "we were supposed to have our exams on March 10, 2018 by 9am. About 95 of us were asked to wait that we will write our exams before another segment by 1pm. We waited patiently but those accommodated in the 9am segment extended to the afternoon exams. Since them, the JAMB officials have not done anything to reschedule the exams for us".


Another candidate, Ugwu Peter said: my own case is I checked my result and I scored 274 and on going to print the result, no mark was found. I screenshot the result on my phone but it disappeared when I went back to print it out. Nobody has told is what happened since then and I am afraid to what may have happened to the result.


Meanwhile, the coordinator of Nna Academy called on the examination Board to revert to the paper exams, adding that lack of exam materials at various centers have culminated to the inefficiencies in the conduct of the examinations.


He further called on the Board to reschedule the exams for the affected students and also expedite actions toward the prompt release of the remaining results.


However, when contacted the Ebonyi state JAMB Coordinator, Mrs Jame Iheme said she was not aware of any protest by the candidates, asking, "where did you say the candidates protested and I was not told but if you want to publish what happened, go ahead".