A total of one million, four hundred and seventy-five thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven candidates are to sit for the 2015 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which begins on Tuesday March 10, nationwide and in seven foreign countries.
Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor ’Dibu Ojerinde, made this known on Thursday, in Abuja, while briefing newsmen on the preparation of the Board for the conduct of a full-blown Computer Based Test (CBT).

He disclosed that 400 examination centres had been designated for the conduct of the examination in Nigeria and seven foreign centres namely: Accra in Ghana, Buea in Republic of Cameroun, Cotonou in Republic of Benin, London in United Kingdom, Jeddah in Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia and Johannesburg in Republic of South Africa and Addis in Ethiopia.
He said the examination was spread to 10 days beginning from Tuesday, March 10, to end on Saturday, March 21, 2015.
He noted that the Board had phased out the Paper Pencil Test (PPT) and Dual Based Test (DBT), as retrogressive modes of test administration.
Ojerinde, however, disclosed that there was a decline in the number of candidates that applied for UTME this year as a result of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East in which many people were displaced.
He noted that in the last UTME conducted in 2014, a total of 1,632,172 candidates registered for the three modes of PPT, DBT and CBT, showing a decrease of 156,695 applicants when compared with this year’s figure.
He disclosed that a total of 192 visually-impaired candidates registered for the 2015 UTME, and that adequate arrangements had been provided to ensure that they partook in the examination.
According to him, the board recently procured Braillenote Apex Computers for the visually-impaired candidates in order to give them the opportunity to pursue their dreams academically.
“The board is the first assessment body in Nigeria to use the Braillenote Apex Computers for public examination. This gadget allows the visually-impaired to take the CBT with minimal assistance,” he said.
Ojerinde said the gadget, which was demonstrated at the event, had been trial-tested with a number of visually-impaired candidates and proved to be effective.
He further disclosed that 208 prison inmates registered for the UTME and would take the examination at both Kaduna and Ikoyi prisons.
According to the Registrar, Imo State topped the chart of the 10 states with highest number of applicants with 104,381 applications, while FCT, which had the lowest of applicants, recorded 4,085 applications.
However, the three north-eastern states of Yobe, Jigawa and Borno, devastated by the Boko Haram activities, recorded low applications with 10, 044; 12,663 and 15,692 respectively.
Prof. Ojerinde, insisted that Biometric Verification Machines would be deployed for verification of candidates before admitting them for the examination, and that candidates were also expected to thumb-print after the examination.
This according to him, would help curb the incidence of impersonation and other forms of examination malpractices the Board was determined eradicate.
He warned against any attempt by the candidates or officials of the Board to compromise the “well-organised” arrangement, saying the full weight of the law would be meted out to such individuals.

SOURCE: http://emekaani..com/2015/03/14-million-candidates-to-sit-for-utme.html