‘No candidate would miss their exams’ – WAEC speaks on timetable clash with JAMB

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has assured that no candidate would miss their examinations as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Thursday.

The assurance is coming on the back of a perceived clash in the timetable of its West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and that of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

In the WASSCE timetable, two subjects — Animal Husbandry 2 (Essay) and Store Management 2 (Essay) — are to be written between 9:30am and 11:30am, the same time during which some candidates would be busy with the UTME in CBT centres across the nation.

Animal Husbandry 1 (Objective) and Store Management 1 (Objective) were also slated for 11:30am to 12:10pm.

The UTME is expected to be written for one week — starting from April 11– while WAEC will be holding its practical sessions — for about 20 subjects — between April 15 to 19, from 9:30am to 4.45pm daily.

Is’haq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, had said there was no clash between the timetables as being widely speculated and criticised.

But in an interview with The Nation, Demianus Ojijeogu, WAEC Nigeria’s public affairs head, said the council is working in synergy with JAMB to sort out the clash.

“I assure you that no candidate would miss their exams. We are working on it. The JAMB Registrar is in touch with the WAEC Head of National Office and we will sort it out internally,” he said.

Also speaking, Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s public relations officer, said the board has received a similar reassurance from WAEC.

“The Registrar has reached out to the HNO and he was assured that there would be no clash,” Benjamin said.

Meanwhile, here are seven important things to take note of as the UTME begins on Thursday.