The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has declared that it will not disclose the names of the top scorers for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
During a press briefing in Bwari on Monday, the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, emphasized that the board views the UTME as strictly a ranking exam.
This decision comes in the wake of the ‘Mmesoma saga’ that unfolded after the conclusion of the 2023 UTME.
The ‘Mmesoma saga’ refers to an incident involving Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student who falsely claimed to have scored 362 when her actual score was 249 in the 2023 UTME on the JAMB portal.
Oloyede revealed that a total of 1,989,668 candidates registered for the examinations, which were conducted in 118 towns across 774 computer-based test centres.
“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.
“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.
