During a press briefing in Bwari on Monday, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, announced that the board will not disclose the names of the top scorers for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede emphasized that JAMB sees the UTME as primarily a ranking examination. This decision stems from the controversy surrounding the 2023 UTME, notably the case of Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student who falsely claimed to have scored 362 when her actual score was 249.
A total of 1,989,668 candidates registered for the 2024 UTME, which was conducted in 118 towns across 774 computer-based test centres (CBT).
Oloyede explained that the board’s reluctance to publish the names of top-performing candidates is due to the diverse parameters used by tertiary institutions to determine admission criteria.
These varying admission criteria make it challenging to establish a single set of parameters to determine the highest scorers.
Oloyede stated, “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, in response to public demand and to prevent a recurrence of the Mmesoma saga, JAMB urges all concerned parties to verify claims made by candidates before offering any awards.
