Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it will conduct additional mop-up examinations for candidates who missed the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at a meeting with key stakeholders to address the challenges encountered during the 2025 UTME.

Oloyede said that the board would accommodate the estimated 5.

He said that the board had extended the opportunity to all the affected candidates, regardless of the reasons for their absence.

“Normally, we hold one mop-up nationwide for those with one issue or the other.

“But this time, we are creating a new mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier examination due to absence, we will extend this opportunity to them.

“It is not that we are doing something extraordinary; in class, you make up an examination when students miss it for one reason or the other; we just don’t allow abuse of that.

“So we will allow all the candidates who missed the main examination for any reason to take part in this mop-up,” he said.

Oloyede criticised some public commentators who misunderstood and misrepresented the role of UTME, while clarifying that UTME was a placement test and not an achievement test.

According to him, the purpose of the examination is to rank candidates for available spaces in institutions and not to measure intelligence or overall academic potential.

The registrar further stated that high UTME score was not the sole determinant of admission, adding that combined performance, including post-UTME scores and school assessments, could significantly affect a candidate’s ranking.

While acknowledging the emotional strain experienced while announcing the UTME results, he noted that this was not indicative of an institutional weakness.

He expressed JAMB’s commitment to resolving issues affecting the examination process, even as he rejected comments suggesting that the administrative failure was due to incompetence or ethnic bias.

“I want to say this clearly, particularly because I accepted responsibility, not because I do not know how to do the work.

“I say it for the fourth time that no conspiracy theory is relevant to this case.

“Something happened; like people who have been doing something well for years and something just went wrong. That I should now throw them under the bus? No,” he said.

Oloyede, who frowned at those exploiting difficulties to promote ethnic or conspiracy-driven narratives, urged stakeholders to stop ethnic profiling in the education sector.

According to him, many of the criticisms of JAMB’s operations are rooted in ignorance.

The registrar, however, commended his team’s efforts, while also appreciating the resilience shown by candidates, many of whom, he said, had continued their exams, notwithstanding the various challenges. (NAN)

 A Kaduna Magistrates’ Court, on Wednesday ordered that a teenager, be given 10 strokes of the cane for breaking into a house and stealing electrical cables worth N450, 000.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, gave the sentence following a guilty plea by the 18-year-old now convict who resides at Kinkinau Kaduna.

Emmanuel said that the light punishment was because the convict saved the court from a prolonged trial, adding that he hoped that it would serve as a deterrent to others.

He also ordered that the recovered electrical cables be returned to the complainant, Sadiq Yusuf.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Chidi Leo, told the court that the convict committed the offence on May 17 at Ungwan sarki Kaduna.

He said the convict and one Mohammed Sani, now attack large, broke into the complainant’s house and stole the electrical cables worth N450, 000.

Leo said the convict was arrested when a neighbour to the complainant saw him coming out of the house with the stolen items.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017. (NAN)

 A 23-year-old woman, Abigail Victor, was on Wednesday arraigned before a Kaduna Magistrate’s Court for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend with a knife.

Victor, a resident of Ungwan Sunday, Kaduna, was facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and causing injury.

The Prosecutor, Insp Chidi Leo, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on May 17 at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna.

Leo said the defendant conspired with two others at large to beat her boyfriend, Dominic James, and also stab him with a knife in his shoulder.

He said the defendant, who had a misunderstanding with the complainant, accused him of cheating on her.

“In the process, she called two of her friends who came to the complainant’s house, beat him up and stabbed him.

“It took the intervention of neighbours who came to the aid of the complainant and rushed him to a hospital.

“The offences contravene Sections 58 and 284 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.

“Section 58 attracts a one-year prison term if found guilty, while Section 284 attracts a prison term of not less than five years if found guilty,” he said.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N200,000 with one surety in like sum.

He said the surety must be a blood relation to the defendant and must present a three year tax clearance to the Kaduna State Government.

Emmanuel adjourned the case until June 17 for hearing. (NAN)