…places 64,624 others under investigation
By Godfrey AKON
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has announced the release of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, results of 1, 842, 464 candidates out of 1,904,189 candidates who sat for the exercise.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the results on Monday in Bwari, Abuja, said results of 64, 624 candidates were under investigation for various infractions.
According to Oloyede, 2,896 were under investigation over verification, 4,594 for procedural investigation of candidates and 57,056 for Centre Based investigation in 18 Centres namely Edo 12, Akwa Ibom 3, Delta 2 and Kwara 1.
He noted that a total of 1,989,668 candidates registered for the examination, representing 24.7 per cent higher than the figure for the year 2023, while 1,904,189 sat for the exercise and 80,810 were absent.
While giving a breakdown of the performance of candidates, he said 8,401, representing 0.5 per cent of the total number of candidates scored 300 and above, while 77,070, representing 4.2 per cent scored 250 and above, and 439,974, representing 24 per cent scored 200 and above
He further stated that 1,402,490, representing 76 per cent scored Below 200, adding that 24 per cent of the candidates scored 50 or 200 and above.
“After the registration exercise, 1,989,668 candidates, who registered for the exercise were scheduled to sit the 2024 examination, which was held from Friday, 19th to 26th April, 2024, in 118 examination towns and in 774 centres.
“In the course of the examination, 25 sessions experienced hiccups of disrupting only 150 of the total 9, 156 sessions in 95 of the 774 centres. The affected sessions were promptly rescheduled.
“Only one centre, Makama School of Technology, Old Motor Park, Along FCCE (T) Road, Bichi, Kano State, was delisted for substandard performance,” he said, adding that of the 774 centres used for the UTME, only one totally failed during the exercise.
The JAMB boss noted that the 2024 UTME would long be remembered as one of the most innovative versions in the annals of Computer-Based Testing by the Board.
He said the successes recorded, particularly in terms of reduced infractions, show that the board’s processes are getting better with each successive exercise.
Speaking on how the board has tackled examination malpractice, he said “Technology continues to play a major role in eliminating loopholes exploited by examination takers as the Board deployed various forms of latest innovations to be steps ahead of mischief makers.”
Oloyede further stated that examination misconduct is being eliminated from examinations conducted by the board as only 78 cases of examination misconduct were recorded in the just-concluded exercise.
“Even these cases are largely in terms of impersonation, and smuggling of devices into the examination hall. In essence, the Board witnessed a near-zero infraction situation in the 2024 UTME except for a few cases, which represent just a tiny fraction of what was reported last year,” he said.
He also disclosed that there was a significant improvement in the enrolment of females, with over 1 million girls registering for the examination, making ithe first time in 3 years that the number of females will be more than that of their male counterparts.
He added that out of the total registration, 3,164 candidates were persons living with disabilities.
“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.
On how to check the results, he said candidates are advised to use the phone numbers they used to register to text UTMERESULT to 55019/66019, stressing that there is no need to approach any CBT centre or cybercafé to check results.
On admissions, he said accepting or rejection of admission “The new methods of accepting or rejecting admissions will thus be: 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 at 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.”
