Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has announced that the State
Government will henceforth bankroll the form fees for the Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB) for all Indigenes and non-indigenes in the
state.
Governor Wike said that the gesture of the Rivers State Government
will commence with the 2020 UTME to be conducted by JAMB.
Speaking during a Courtesy Visit by the Registrar of JAMB at the
Government House Port Harcourt on Thursday, Governor Wike said that the
Rivers State Government is committed to ensuring that less privileged
students are not denied the opportunity to sit for the examination.
He said: “From 2020, UTME forms for Indigenes and non-indigenes will be
paid for by the Rivers State Government. It is important for us to
ensure that children of the less privileged don’t bear this burden.
“This offer is to ensure that no qualified candidate is denied the
opportunity to write the UTME. For some parents, the fee is nothing,
but there are families that cannot afford the fees”.
The Governor also announced the allocation of land at the Greater Port
Harcourt City to JAMB for the construction of their Zonal Office.
He also allocated a block of offices to JAMB as their temporary office
in Rivers State, following the dilapidation of the current office. He
also donated an operational vehicle to JAMB in the State.
Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede commended the Rivers State
Governor for his commitment to the development of education, especially
his abolition of fees for secondary and primary schools in the state.
He appealed to the Rivers State Governor to allocate a temporary office
to JAMB for their daily operations as the current office has totally
degenerated.
He said that in view of the number of candidates writing UTME in the
state, JAMB requires land to construct a mega computer based test
centre in the state.
“There are only 12 Computer Based Test centres in Rivers State. This
number is grossly inadequate. We urge Your Excellency to allocate
land for JAMB to construct a mega computer based test Centre for at
least 500 Candidates.
“You are the closest governor to JAMB. Rise and help us. Funding is no
longer our problem. We retain N2billion annually from our Internally
generated revenue “; he said.