The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has declared that it will not announce the names of the top performers for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede disclosed this during a press briefing in Bwari on Monday, citing the board’s perspective that the UTME serves primarily as a ranking assessment.
Oloyede highlighted the desire to prevent a recurrence of the ‘Mmesoma saga,’ which emerged after the conclusion of the 2023 UTME.
The saga involved Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student, who claimed a score of 362, while her actual score was 249 on the UTME JAMB portal.
With 1,989,668 candidates registering for the examinations across 118 towns in 774 computer-based test centres (CBT), Oloyede emphasized that the board’s reluctance to publish top performers’ names stems from the various parameters involved in determining minimum admissible scores for tertiary institution admissions.
He stated, “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.”