The registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has said the body won’t give names of the top scorers for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) because it doesn't want to repeat the Mmesoma saga.
Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student, had claimed to score 362 as against her actual score of 249 in the 2023 UTME JAMB portal.
The Registrar who stated this at a press briefing in Bwari on Monday noted that the board considers its UTME to be only a ranking examination.
Oloyede said that 1,989,668 candidates registered for the examinations held in 118 towns in 774 computer-based test centres (CBT), out of which only 8,401 scored above 300 marks.
“It is common knowledge that the Board has, at various fora, restated its unwillingness to publish the names of its best-performing candidates, as it considers its UTME as only a ranking examination on account of the other parameters that would constitute what would later be considered the minimum admissible score for candidates seeking admission to tertiary institutions.
“Similarly, because of the different variables adopted by respective institutions, it might be downright impossible to arrive at a single or all-encompassing set of parameters for generating a list of candidates with the highest admissible score, as gaining admission remains the ultimate goal. Hence, it might be unrealistic or presumptive to say a particular candidate is the highest scorer given the fact that such a candidate may, in the final analysis, not even be admitted.
“However, owing to public demand and to avoid a repeat of the Mmesoma saga as well as provide a guide for those, who may want to award prizes to this set of high-performing candidates, the Board appeals to all concerned to always verify claims by candidates before offering such awards,” he explained.
8,401 score above 300, as 1.4 million score below 200
Meanwhile, the results released by JAMB show that 1,402,490 candidates out of 1,842,464 failed to score 200 out of 400 marks.
The number of candidates who failed to score half of the possible marks represents 78 per cent of the candidates whose results were released by JAMB.
Giving a breakdown of the results of the 1,842,464 candidates released, the board’s Registrar, Prof. Oloyede, noted that, “8,401 candidates scored 300 and above; 77,070 scored 250 and above; 439,974 scored 200 and above while 1,402,490 scored below 200.”
Oloyede also noted that the results of 64,624 out of the 1,904,189, who sat the examination, were withheld by the board and would be subject to investigation.
He noted that though a total of 1,989,668 registered, a total of 80,810 candidates were absent.
“For the 2024 UTME, 1,989,668 candidates registered including those who registered at foreign centres. The Direct Entry registration is still ongoing.
“Out of a total of 1,989,668 registered candidates, 80,810 were absent. A total of 1,904,189 sat the UTME within the six days of the examination.
“The Board is today releasing the results of 1,842,464 candidates. 64,624 results are under investigation for verification, procedural investigation of candidates, Centre-based investigation and alleged examination misconduct.”
Oloyede also said the board, at the moment, conducts examination in nine foreign centres namely: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Buea, Cameroon; Cotonou, Republic of Benin; London, United Kingdom; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
“The essence of this foreign component of the examination is to market our institutions to the outside world as well as ensuring that our universities reflect the universality of academic traditions, among others. The Board is, currently, fine-tuning arrangements for the conduct of the 2024 UTME in these foreign centres,” he said.
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