The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has commenced across 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

The 2023 edition of the examination conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) starts today Tuesday 25, 2023 and will continue till Saturday, Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

Integrity News reported that the 2023 UTME was earlier scheduled to commence on April 29 before it was pushed forward by the Board.

In some of the centres visited by Integrity News, many of the candidates turned out early for the first examination session slated for 8:30am as early as 5:30am in order to meet up for the exercise.

Biometric verification of candidates starts by 07:00 am local time as they come one after the other.

A physically challenged candidate was seen being helped by officials to make it to the examination hall.

Some candidates, however, missed their chances of writing the examination after they came 30 minutes after the commencement of the first session.

In another case at a centre in Edo State, a female student was denied entrance into the exam all because her information did not match with the passport on her slip. All efforts to help her proved abortive.

While commenting on the general conduct of the examination, some officials who do not want their names to be mentioned commended the Professor Ishaq Oloyede-led JAMB administration for providing adequate arrangements for the successful conduct of the examination across the country.

The officials appealed to parents and guardians to support the examination body in getting rid of examination malpractices of all types.