More than 80 percent of the 98,232 candidates scheduled to sit for Saturday’s nationwide mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) failed to appear, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has confirmed.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this while monitoring the exercise at the Technology CBT Centre, NAF Valley Estate in Abuja. According to him, only about 12 percent of registered candidates turned up for the examination across the country.
The low turnout, he explained, may not be unconnected with intensified security measures introduced to curb impersonation and other examination malpractices.
“Every year, we conduct mop-up exams for about 4,000 to 5,000 candidates—those with genuine excuses such as illness or confirmed technical issues. But this year, over 98,000 candidates were scheduled. The sharp drop in attendance suggests the system is flushing out cheats,” Oloyede said.
JAMB has consistently used mop-up exams as a second chance for candidates with verified reasons for missing the main UTME. However, this year’s massive list and poor turnout are raising fresh questions about the integrity of previous applications.
More details later
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