Candidates writing the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Enugu were on Monday stranded following the sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South-East.

The 2022 Computer Based Test (CBT) which began on Friday, May 6, ought to have ended on Monday, May 9, but was shifted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) to Tuesday, May 10.

An official of JAMB who spoke to journalists on Monday in Enugu, said the board shifted the exam to May 10 due to the recurring Monday sit-at-home order in the South-East region.

Some of the candidates also said they were not aware of the cancellation, saying that they came to the centre only to be told that it had been shifted.

They said that many of them that went to do a reprint of their slip discovered that the date and time for the exam had been shifted to Tuesday, May 10 by 7: 00 a.m.

“There was no vehicle to convey my friend and me to the TETFUND centre at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, (UNEC), where we are supposed to write the examination.

“My dad took us by his car to the centre and we were disappointed when other students standing at the entrance of the hall told us that it has been postponed to Tuesday,” he said.

Another student who identified herself simply as Chigozie, said JAMB would have informed them earlier about the change in the examination timetable than allow them to take the risk of coming to the centre.

“It is risky to go out on Mondays in Enugu for fear of the unknown but here we are to write our CBT which did not hold. Personally, I feel disappointed and stranded because my house is far from the centre,” she lamented.

Meanwhile, the students writing the ongoing West African Examination Council (WAEC) in the state have decried the stress they went through to write Food and Nutrition subject due to non-availability of transportation.

Some of them who spoke said they trekked long distances to meet up with the exam.

There was partial compliance with the order as many businesses were open while some commercial vehicles including tricycles and small buses were plying within the metropolis.

The usual police and military checkpoints also disappeared, apparently in compliance with the order. 

(NAN)