The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Saturday announced the commencement of registration of candidates for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry to tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.

The decision came barely 48 hours after it had stopped the exercise over technical challenges of the National Identification Number.

But a terse statement issued by the spokesperson for JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said registration for the examination had now commenced in full swing as all the issues had been resolved.

“It was only put on hold to resolve the technical hitches. Registration is now in full swing,” he said, adding that some candidates had successfully registered for the examination.

On Thursday, Benjamin apologised for the delay in the commencement of the registration exercise which, he said, was “speculated” to begin the same day.

According to him, the delay was caused by some unforeseen circumstances occasioned by its determined effort to have NIN integration.

Read Also: NIN inclusion delaying commencement of UTME registration – JAMB

He said, “To be sure all processes are completed before the commencement, the board didn’t place its advertorial as it has yet to complete the process of a smooth PIN vending and candidate access to the registration app for the 2021 UTME/DE.

“The advertisement is the surest indication of the beginning of the exercise as it has all the step-by-step process that candidates are required to follow.

“However, this delay is caused by some unforeseen circumstances occasioned by our determined effort to have a NIN integration. This challenge is being resolved and once that is done, all processes shall commence.

“Candidates are, therefore, requested to exercise some patience. The process shall be up and running shortly for our advertisement to be rolled out so that candidates can begin the creation of profiles.”