The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board has said that GSM service providers should be blamed for candidates’ inability to get the results of their 2019 UTME after texting their details to a dedicated code.
The Board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the examination board was already aware of the problem and had consequently summoned a meeting with the GSM service providers.
“They have assured (us) that they are working hard to get the issue addressed and that in no distant time, candidates should be able to access their results without hitch,” Benjamin said of the outcome of the Board’s meeting with the GSM service providers on Monday.
Candidates of the 2019 UTME had decried the technical challenges they have been facing as they try to access their results by telephone.
And JAMB, which conducted the examination, admitted the problem, but said it was working in collaboration with telephone service providers to resolve the glitches.
JAMB on Saturday directed the candidates to use the same telephone number used in registering for the examination to access their results by sending ‘RESULT’ Surname Middle Name and Last Name to code ‘55019.’
Mrs. Bridget Otuagha, a parent, expressed worries at the challenge her son was facing to get his result.
According to her, ever since the result was announced, her son had tried without success to check his result as directed by the Board.
“I am sick with worry about this whole thing. My son has been trying to get his result since Saturday, to no avail.
“He has been sending this ‘RESULT’ to the said code up until this morning, and there has been no response to that effect.
“This is getting, not just him, but the entire family, worried. JAMB should please see if there is another way to this situation,’’ Otuagha told NAN.
Mrs. Florence Ibem, another concerned parent, also told NAN that her son was also having the same issue checking his score for the same examination.
“Since they released the result, we have not been able to access his scores through the telephone number we used in acquiring the registration pin.
“After sending RESULT to the said code several times, we only waited to see that no response whatsoever will follow. This is disturbing and frustrating.
“Something should be done and, urgently, too. Even if it is withheld or cancelled, I think we deserve to know,’’ Ibem said.
When contacted, the Board’s Head, Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, apologised to the affected persons on behalf of the Board.
According to him, the challenge is from the telephone service providers.
Benjamin said the Board had received complaints concerning the development and had summoned the service providers for a meeting on the issue.
“We have just had a meeting with the service providers and they have assured (us) that they are working hard to get the issue addressed and that in no distant time, candidates should be able to access their results without hitch.
“We are just trying to ensure that all the candidates deserving of results should have firsthand information of their performance via their telephones.
“It is after that, that we will go ahead and post it to our website for candidates to go ahead and print.
“We are just trying to safeguard these results from the activities of fraudsters.
“We want candidates to know their scores first, so that on getting to print them out at the business centres, there would not be anything funny on their slips,’’ the JAMB spokesman explained.
NAN reports that of the over 1.8 million candidates that registered for the examination, a total of 1,792,719 of them had their results released by the Board.
A total of 49,265 results were withheld for examination malpractice.
Out of the number, 15,145 results are undergoing further clarification as in the case of identical twins and siblings.