The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has strongly rejected the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) plan to conduct a fresh UTME for candidates whose results were affected by technical errors.
This follows JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede’s admission on Wednesday that technical glitches had distorted scores for candidates in the five South-East states and Lagos, prompting the Board to schedule a retake for those impacted.
In a statement released on Thursday, the National President of the Youth Council, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, described the decision as “completely unacceptable,” condemning it as a major disservice to the affected students.
According to Okwu, it is unjust to put the students through “another round of mental torture, stress, and risk” over mistakes that were not their fault.
“We want to state unequivocally that our people will not accept any fresh examination, having already been subjected to mental torture by JAMB,” he stated.
He argued that the candidates were no longer mentally fit to retake the test due to the distress caused by the earlier release of incorrect results.
“The candidates are not in the right frame of mind to undergo another examination, having been faced mental torture ever since the fake results were announced.
“Besides, who is going to bear the cost? The same parents who are facing severe financial challenges?
“What of the risk of moving to the examination locations, in a country ravaged by insecurity?” he asked.
Okwu went further to demand that all affected South-East candidates be awarded a minimum score of 300, stressing that they were capable of achieving such scores under normal circumstances.
“Having said this, we demand that JAMB should allocate 300 score to all the South-East candidates affected by its own error, not that of the candidates. Igbos are very brilliant people and could have made 300 and above,” he insisted.
He alleged that the incident was a deliberate attempt to sideline students from the region.
“It was a deliberate design to punish the people of the South-East, clearly to deny them education opportunities,” he said.
