Staggering 99% Score Below 200 in Rescheduled UTME, JAMB Confirms

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that a staggering 99% of the 336,845 candidates who retook the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Lagos and the five South-East states scored below 200 out of a possible 400.

This means 333,477 candidates fell short of the 200-mark.

In a statement released on Sunday by JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, it was noted that “only a handful scored up to 217 in the affected sessions.”

Dr. Benjamin, who released the rescheduled UTME results on Sunday after initial server issues in six states, also emphasized the absence of high scorers in the canceled sessions of the affected states.

He said: “The misleading questions posed by certain individuals regarding candidates who allegedly scored highly in the cancelled sessions who might desire to retain their previous results are totally unfounded, as only a handful scored up to 217 in the affected sessions, while 99% scored below 200 marks — indicating that there were no high scorers in the cancelled sessions of the affected six states.”

According to the spokesman, the explanation became necessary following those it referred to as ‘opportunists’ throwing ‘misleading questions’ at it regarding candidates who allegedly scored highly in the cancelled sessions and might desire to retain their previous results.

“It is not unexpected that, given our circumstances, some opportunistic and mischievous individuals may attempt to exploit the situation for personal gain, thereby attempting to discredit not only the CBT process but also the Board itself,” he said.

He disclosed that “all results are now released except those of candidates who committed examination infractions and those slated for mop-up examinations.”

“While releasing the results, it should be emphasised that recent discoveries, particularly by the security agencies, have necessitated the withdrawal of some of the results of implicated candidates across the country, whose results had been previously released.

“Candidates with earlier released results need not recheck their results, as candidates affected by the withdrawal are being notified through text messages on their registered lines, their profiles, and emails,” he added.

The Board emphasized that the charges for short code 55019/66019 (text messages) do not generate revenue to JAMB as being peddled in some quarters.