By Funmilayo Adeyemi

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced a  new date for the commencement of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

The board disclosed this in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Sunday.

Benjamin said the UTME which was earlier scheduled to commence on April 29, would now start on April 25, 2023.

He also said the board would hold its rescheduled mock-UTME on April 18, 2023.

” It would be recalled that JAMB had earlier conducted its 2023 Mock-UTME on Thursday,  March 30 in 725 centres across the country.

” However, the exercise ran into some technical hitches in some centres, thereby denying some candidates the opportunity to sit for  the examination.

” The board’s mock examination was designed for the purpose of testing its preparedness and that of its partners for the UTME as well as give prospective candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience of the CBT test environment.

” It is, therefore,  in order to give those candidates, who were unable to sit for the examination owing to no fault of theirs, the opportunity to take the examination that the mock examination had been rescheduled to hold on Tuesday, April 18,,” he said.

He said that candidates who were present and screened for the examination but could not sit for it  had  been rescheduled to retake the  mock examination on April 18.

Benjamin, therefore, said  the result of the candidates who successfully took the mock examination on March 30, had been released.

He also said the board had brought forward the conduct of its 2023 UTME which was earlier scheduled to hold from Saturday, April 29, to Tuesday,  April 25.

He said the adjustment in the date of the UTME was to accommodate some other major and critical national assignments.

” By so doing, the board hopes that no citizen will be denied the opportunity of exercising their civic responsibilities.

” It should be noted that the board does not have the liberty of shifting forward its examination as other public examinations are billed to commence their exercises in the early part of May 2023.

“Yet another factor is the need to accommodate those institutions with stable academic calendar to resume as scheduled,” he added.

He said the board would continue to partner with relevant agencies of government to ensure that its candidates got the best.

He said the board also solicited the understanding of all as it delivered on its critical mandate. (NAN)

Edited by Chioma Ugboma