JAMB Releases Over 1.6m UTME Results, Seizes 80,000 Others

•  Laments sophisticated, widespread exam malpractices

Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has released the results of over 1.6 million out of the over 1.7 million candidates who sat for the recently concluded 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination UTME).

The Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this wednesday at a press briefing in Abuja.
Oloyede also disclosed that the results of over 80,000 candidates were withheld for various reasons, especially suspected examination malpractices.

He also said there were about 3, 811 candidates who registered late for the examination with findings revealing that more than half of then had earlier registered.

Oloyede noted that the results were released within the 24 hours of each examination in compliance with their promise to deliver the results in a timely manner.

He said: “So far, we have released 1,606,901 results leaving us with a balance of 80,889 and out of which we have deliberately withheld 76,123 because of examination malpractices.

“Let me say that we released the results within 24 hours but if it is left for me I would have withheld the result until we clear all outstanding issues.”

According to him, the results were released to prove to those who doubt their capacity that it could be done within 24 hours.
“However, I want to announce to you ahead of time that if I am in charge by next year, I will not release the results immediately until all the issues are resolved,” he stressed.

Speaking further, the JAMB boss said they would ensure that all candidates whose results were withheld after verifications are released before the next academic session.

Oloyede lamented the widespread examination malpractices across the country aided by parents, teachers and Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBT) centres.

He disclosed that some of the CBT centres exploited the candidates by deliberately distorting their data so that they can come back to pay extra money for corrections.

JAMB also disclosed of connivance between parents, teachers and managers of the CBT centres to engage in cheating.

Oloyede noted: “As at today, 640 candidates out of over 1.7 million candidates could not do their biometric verification and we told you what happened about registration distortion by these registration centres. In Abuja, a principal collected N8,000 each from their students to effect their registration but did not obtain their biometrics.

To this end, Oloyede has threatened to severe cooperation with over 600 CBT centres across the country, most of which are privately owned.
He also denied the report that over 10,000 candidates were implicated for examination malpractice in Anambra State, saying the state coordinator was misquoted.

“Mrs. Aja-Nwachukwu was misquoted by the journalist. She said only 10 candidates were implicated but the journalist wrote 10,000,” he clarified.