Over a million candidates are supposed to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exam beginning from March 9th and just few days to the commencement of the exam, there has been many protests in different states across the country. On March 3, 2015, we reported that police arrested 50 protesting JAMB candidates in Benue.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, March 4, there were reports of protest in Jos, capital of Plateau state. The protest began after the delay and inability of JAMB officials to release the exam slip of candidates. The officials had told the candidates to leave their slips and return later to get their exam details. But on their return, the officials were overwhelmed by the marmot crowd of the candidates. Pandemonium erupted when the officials very slow in releasing the slips to them.
In the confusion that ensued, the officials closed their offices and asked the candidates to come back the next day. At this juncture, they became enraged and started smashing doors and windows of the offices. The policemen were said to have fired gunshots in the air to disperse the candidates.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, said that the police were called to maintain law and order after the candidates became riotous.
He said, “The police only dispersed them because they constituted a great danger to motorists because the office is located at a major highway.”
In a related case, pandemonium engulfed the office of JAMB in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital as a result of protests by the candidates. Candidates in Lokoja protested against the alleged plan by JAMB staffs to cheat them by demanding extra charges than the stipulated fees.
On Wednesday the aggrieved candidates stormed JAMB office in Phase 2 Lokoja and engaged the JAMB officials forcefully which led to the collapse of the entrance gate.
One candidate said, “Ordinarily we can do the registration online from any internet-based platform, but because they wanted to extort that N700 from each of the candidates, they gave the order.
“When it was time to check for our centres and get the print outs for Saturday computer-based test, they asked us to pay the money.”
The state JAMB Coordinator, Mr. Daniel Agbo, was said to have sought the assistance of officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to bring the situation under control.
