Oloyede shared this information during a visit to authorized computer-based test centers in Lagos on Friday, where candidate registrations are taking place.
He also noted that in the past 10 days, a total of 782,027 candidates have completed their registration.
“Now, we have registered 782,027, and 11,553 of them are underage. So, you can see that as we are registering, the system is reporting from all over the country. Out of the expected two million candidates, we’re not yet at the 14th day.
“Monday will mark our 14th day. So, in two weeks, we would have completed about half of our registration process, and by that time, we expect to have over one million candidates registered. So far, everything has been smooth,” he said.
Oloyede noted that 443 underage candidates registered on Friday, alongside 18,813 successful registrations that morning.
“Today alone, we have 443 underage candidates, and out of the 18,813 registered this morning, 443 are underage. This year, we’ve introduced a system that allows us to identify and track underage candidates.
“This will help us understand their issues and even identify those who might be genuinely gifted but still underage,” he explained.
There was also a discussion regarding the increasing trend of parents registering their children at an earlier age, noting, “It has become a common thing now, where parents whether mothers or fathers are registering their underage children, sometimes due to pressure or other reasons.”
The official statement released earlier this week highlighted that the registration process for this year's examination has seen significant advancements as well as some considerable delays.
Oloyede provided an overview of the current technical difficulties and enhancements being addressed.
“You are here. You were here last year. See if you can find any power outages, network failures, and so forth. I just heard recently that due to the technical measures put in place this year, things are a bit slow,” he said.
Oloyede acknowledged the scheduling delays, assuring that the situation is under active management. He further observed that, while some criticisms have been raised, the public’s expectation of efficiency may occasionally conflict with the established regulatory framework.
He said, “No, it’s not a bit slow. You know Nigerians generally want to have things their own way. Look at these students. In other climes, they have to register on their own. Nobody should be doing registration for them.”
He underscored the comprehensive efforts to ensure system thoroughness, noting that while registration assistance was available to some students, many were not approaching the process with the necessary seriousness.
“But go and see the attitude. Even when we have engaged people to be doing the enrollment for them, something they are supposed to do on their own, they are even not attentive.”
To proactively address potential challenges, Mr. Oloyede announced the implementation of new measures to ensure complete candidate engagement throughout the registration process.
He added, “What we do is that we put some safety valves into it. For example, for a candidate who is registered, we expect him to read certain rules. Before he will say, I agree. In the past, once he said, I agree, it goes. But we have now put a time limit. A time-space that whether he likes it or not, he must read because the system will not go until that time elapses.”
Notwithstanding the difficulties encountered, he highlighted the substantial progress achieved in registrations.
Oloyede said, “This is the first time that we have been registering 80,000-plus. Yesterday, we registered close to 100,000 across the country. And we have budgeted for 60,000 per day. That’s what we use in our planning.”
“But from the third day, we started 80,000, 90,000 per day. So, which means we will finish long before the time.”