A former provost of Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, has commended Joint Matriculation and Admissions Board (JAMB) for its initiative for physically-challenged Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates.

Mr Adedoja, also a former minister of sports, gave the commendation in an interview with journalists in Ibadan on Saturday.

The 2023 UTME exercise for persons with disabilities (PWDs) took place in 11 centres nationwide,

Abuja, Ado-Ekiti, Bauchi, Benin, Enugu, Jos, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Oyo and Yola.

Mr Adedoja, who is the Oyo Centre Coordinator for the examination, said the initiative was aimed at bringing the examination venues closer to the candidates, especially considering the security situation in the country.

He said that the centres, coordinated by seasoned academics and university administrators, had a total of 337 candidates.

“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has provided another opportunity for physically-challenged students in Nigeria to have access to tertiary education.

“At the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, 52 visually-impaired students sat for the 2023  UTME JAMB examination on Thursday and Friday.

“Similar exercise also took place in 11 centres across the country for a total number of 337 visually impaired candidates.

“They were happy that they were being given the opportunity to excel in their areas of interest for the development of this country.

“JAMB should be recognised for this and the Federal Government should be commended for giving equal opportunity to persons with disabilities, including the visually impaired,” Mr Adedoja said.

He commended the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, for the major intervention in the last seven years.

A physically-challenged candidate in one of the examination centres, Aliyu Abbas, who is aspiring to study Law, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination.

Abbas, a visually impaired, said: “We now have the hope of practising the profession of our choice, our disability notwithstanding.

“We want the government to support us more when we eventually gain admission into tertiary institutions.”

Another candidate, Oluwatobiloba Adebayo, said she wanted to study English Language, while another, who took the examination with his laptop, said, “I will be one of Nigeria’s computer experts when I graduate.” 

(NAN)