President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday appointed Dr. Duke Okoro as the pioneer Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Orogun in Ughelli North LGA of Delta State.

The Federal Polytechnic, Orogun, was initiated by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege and passed into law by the National Assembly.

The law was subsequently assented to by President Buhari, commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The appointment of Okoro as the pioneer Rector of the institution was duly considered and approved by the President.

Okoro, was the Director of International Development at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State.

He bagged a PhD degree in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from the prestigious University of Benin in 2004. A Fellow of the Chemical Society of Nigeria (FCSN); Fellow Nigerian Environmental Society (FNES); Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria (FICCON); Fellow Institute of Management Consultant (FIMC).

READ ALSO: Buhari Approves Three More Polytechnics

The newly appointed rector is also a Member, of the Institute of Public Analyst of Nigeria (MIPAN); a Member of the Chemical Profession of Alberta, Canada (PChem), and a Member of the Environmental Careers Organization, Canada (EP) amongst others.

Meanwhile, Deltans have reacted to the kickoff of the Federal Polytechnic, Orogun and the appointment of Dr. Duke Okoro as Rector by President Buhari.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it would not extend deadline for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration.

According to NAN, Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, gave the warning after monitoring the registration exercise in Kano state on Wednesday.

Registration for this year’s UTME started on January 14 and is scheduled to end on February 14.

The exam is billed to commence on April 29 and end on May 12.

Speaking on the registration exercise, Oloyede said JAMB’s target for the year is to register 1.8 million candidates.

He also revealed that the board has so far registered a total of 500,000 candidates across the country.

The JAMB registrar called on applicants to register for UTME within the stipulated deadline as there will be no extension.

“We do not expect any extension as about 500,000 candidates have registered out of the 1.8 million candidates that we are expecting,” he said.

READ ALSO: JAMB To Prosecute 34 Students, Six Centres For Exam Registration Malpractice

The development comes as the board said it has apprehended six operators of computer based test (CBT) centres in Kano over alleged illicit registration of candidates for UTME.

Oloyede said the arrested operators allegedly compromised the registration process, adding that they would be handed over to security operatives for prosecution.

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has uncovered 34 prospective candidates who connived with Computer Based Test Centres for the purpose of exam malpractice.

The candidates who were registering for the examination allegedly allowed the CBT centre staff to thumbprint forms for them.

One of those apprehended includes a level 5 Law student of the Bayero University, BUK, Kano, who was said to have thumb printed for 14 prospective candidates who plan to sit for the examination.

READ ALSO: 2023 UTME: 445,081 Register As JAMB Targets 1.8m Candidates

Another candidate at the same centre was also caught thumbprinting for 14 students while a third suspect, who was arrested personally by the JAMB Register, Professor Ishaq Oloyede registered for six students.

Professor Ishaq Oloyede who was in Kano to monitor the UTME Registration exercise and supervised about six JAMB centres said he would ensure that those arrested are prosecuted because malpractice begins at the point of registration.

The JAMB Registrar said the Law insists that every student must thumbprint by themselves, using their ten fingers when registering for the UTME and where a candidate has problems with some of the fingers, the official registering him will simply indicate the finger as “Bad”.

“But instead of strictly flowing the rules, some Ad-hoc staff for the UTME who are employed by the Computer Based Test Centrs are now conniving with the candidates to thumbprint for them, this is indeed done to coerce female students to sleep with them or to get extra money from them”.

He said the exam board had also uncovered a similar case in Abuja where somebody doing the UTME Registration Exercise wanted to sleep with a student but she refused and reported to them and quickly they discovered the place and dealt with the suspect.

“This is what they are doing to enjoy extra gains from the students that is why we commenced this supervision across Nigeria to arrest the ugly situation by punishing anybody found wanting.”

Professor Oloyede hinted that the board has no problems with its staff and CBT centres but that the problems are with the private CBT centres, who though have written an indemnity with the board to do the right thing are still found wanting.

“And if they refuse to produce anybody found wanting, they will now take the blames, for example, this person reading Law what sort of Lawyer are you producing for the country who has now engaged in fraud conniving with students to cheat the nation”.

READ ALSO: JAMB Announces 2023 Registration Date

Oloyede informed that the 34 students found conniving with the suspects would not be allowed to even sit for the examination this year and if they do by any means their papers would be cancelled.

The Registrar appealed to students to be guided by the UTME registration guidelines and not allow anyone to Thumbprint forms for them because doing that would cost them their chances and they would also be prosecuted for fraud.