Nigerian Exams Body, JAMB Says 1.4Million Of 1.8Million Candidates Score Less Than 200

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that over 1.4million of the 1,842,464 candidates whose results of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have been released, representing 77% scored less than 200.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who made this known while giving a breakdown of the UTME results said that while 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.

SaharaReporters had reported that Oloyede announced the release of the UTME results at a press conference held at the board’s headquarters, Bwari, in Abuja on Monday.

According to the Board, over 1.94 million candidates registered and sat the examination in 118 towns and over 700 centres across the country.

The examination which began on Friday, 19th April ended on Monday, 29th April 2024.

The board earlier explained that it chose to delay the release of the UTME results by some days because it needed some time to scrutinise the results to ensure credibility and integrity of the results, ensuring that there were no questions or any form of unclarity concerning the results particularly as regards the issue of impersonation, mixed biometrics, and other forms of malpractices.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that about 4,385 candidates who sat UTME and scored 300 and above out of a possible 400 did not gain admission into tertiary schools between 2019 and 2022 in Nigeria.

According to a detailed analysis of the data obtained from JAMB, 6.9 million candidates sat the examination between 2019 and 2022 with only 2.03 million of them admitted into various tertiary schools while 4.87 million candidates failed to secure admission.

Oloyede, who also gave the new format for acceptance of admissions said that “Either a candidate sends ACCEPT/REJECT on his dedicated phone line to 55019/66019, or a candidate accepts or rejects any admission offer (programme change inclusive) with his/her fingerprint (biometric) at an accredited CBT centre or any JAMB Office.

“The above newly-crafted methods of accepting or rejecting admissions, are aimed at protecting the details of the candidates and upholding the sanctity of the admission process.

“With this new method, the candidates’ registered phone (SIM) is now more important than ever as it is now required to perform even more sensitive operations. We are in discussions with NCC on dedicated student’s SIM with restricted services.”