No word yet on abducted JAMB staff,1.9m register for UTME

No word has been heard yet on the six staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and a driver of a chartered vehicle who were abducted on their way to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
They were kidnapped by gunmen along the Obajan road in Kogi State on Sunday, after taking off from Abuja early in the morning.
It was gathered that three staff of the examination body who were abducted came from some state offices to join the Abuja staff for the conduct of Mock United Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Nigeria Everyday reports that seven staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on their way to make arrangement for the examinations.
A senior official of the examination body confirmed the unfortunate incident exclusively to Nigeria Everyday but would not give details.
JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, was not available for official comments.
Details are sketchy, but Nigeria Everyday gathered that the JAMB management was making efforts to reach out to family members of the kidnapped staff, while security agencies have been duly informed.
Meanwhile, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said on Sunday it will not extend stated he registration of candidates for both the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and the Direct Entry (DE) as being speculated in some quarters.
The examination body says it has registered over 1.9 million prospective candidates for the 2020 UTME so far.
Said Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesman, “Let me state clearly here that there will be no extension for the registration of candidates for both the UTME and the direct entry (DE) as being speculated in some quarters.
“Registration for this year’s examination ends by 12 midnight of Feb. 17, and that will be it for this year.
“I like to say that the board is pleased with the way the exercise has gone so far and with this, we have registered over 1.9 million candidates. We have never recorded such a number before.
“Without doubt, this figure is the highest that the board has ever recorded in the history of its examination.
“We are equally happy as a board that we keep improving everyday in a bid to ensure effective management of our operations”.
According to him, a total of 669 out of the 747 centres across the country will be used for the conduct of the computer-based test (CBT).
“One of the purposes of the mock examination is to test-run the facilities in these centres. Anyone of them that falls short of standard will automatically be delisted,” he said.