The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB,) has declared that it will refrain from disclosing the identities of the highest scorers in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the Registrar, said during a press briefing in Bwari on Monday that the board views the UTME solely as a ranking assessment.
He further expressed the board’s intent to prevent a recurrence of the ‘Mmesoma incident’ from the 2023 UTME aftermath.
This incident involved Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student, who falsely claimed to have scored 362, whereas her actual score was 249 as per the JAMB portal.
Oloyede disclosed that a total of 1,989,668 candidates registered for the examinations, which took place across 118 towns in 774 computer-based test centres (CBT).
“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.
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“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.
