South-East Senate caucus has expressed worries over the recent UTME examination glitch in some centres in Lagos and in the whole of South-East.

The caucus, in a statement issued by its chairman, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, on Saturday in Abuja, described the development as curious and highly suspicious.

He said that the caucus, after a careful assessment of the reports of the incident, noted the efforts being made by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to mitigate the near disaster, particularly the rescheduling of the examination.

Mr Abaribe, however, warned that a future reoccurrence would be unacceptable to the caucus.

He said that the South-East senators welcomed the timely acceptance of fault, as expressed through the open declaration of regrets and apology by the JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede.

“The South-East lawmakers hope and warn that such a display of penitence in public will not be an effort to hide a future unpleasant agenda aimed at harming the educational advancement of children of the South-East region.

“The so-called glitch, as curious and suspicious as it was, is enough to erode confidence and dangerously lower national pride among the future generation.

“The relevant national education drivers must recognise the inherent danger of injecting hateful politics and narrow parochial considerations into both policy enunciation and its implementation.

“This is to assuage the growing frustrations and fears among the people of the region, particularly the children who are directly at the receiving end.

“We must pursue a Nigerian agenda and not a narrow one that will ultimately injure national unity,” he said.

According to him, education remains one of the most important bedrocks of any society’s advancement, adding that it is one major index of development in every facet of life that can never be faulted.

“Education is a major pivot that triggers national development; every child is entitled to it. Therefore, we must not play with it,” he said.

The senator demanded a firm assurance from JAMB and other relevant national educational policy drivers that there would never be a recurrence of such a ‘scandalous glitch’ in the future.

(NAN)