NOUN hosts visually-impaired UTME candidates in Abuja

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), has hosted 21 visually-impaired candidates from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the 2023 University Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The 2-day exercise for the visually impaired candidates ran from Thursday, April 27 through Friday, April 28, 2023 at the university's headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.

Abuja Zonal Coordinator, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Prof. Sunday Ododo, in a chat with NOUN News, commended NOUN and its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Peters, for the cooperation and quick response to all their requests.

He said the university had been involved in the process by ensuring that they lacked nothing for the examination.

Speaking further, Ododo said there was room for deeper collaboration and partnership with the university in terms of opening their doors to admitting special needs students, which can be advertised by JEOG to their candidates.

The coordinator added that a JEOG national workshop had been planned, saying that it would be an honour for the Vice-Chancellor to speak at the event as he has been a major partner in the JEOG exercise.

The professor urged NOUN to institute an award for the best candidate in the NOUN centre and to establish a department of special needs for even bigger collaborations.

 He mentioned that the reduction of candidates in the centre was a result of the decentralisation embarked on by the JEOG, which brought forth 11 new centres “so that candidates are closer to their centres and it reduces the risk for candidates.”

Explaining the group's plans concerning technology, Ododo mentioned that the process to inculcate technology is ongoing, and once implemented, it will give the candidates three options to choose from and encourage institutions to increase their attention to ICT.

Earlier, the coordinator presented the candidates with gifts from the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, after which the excited candidates thanked the registrar for the slates and stylus and commended him for all the good work he has done.