The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), four days after its conduct.
The board, however, blacklisted a total of 23 centres in Abia and Rivers states for massive examination irregularities, while results of 2,494 candidates were withheld for further scrutiny.
JAMB Registrar, Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde, who announced the release of the results at a news conference in Abuja, on Thursday, however, said the exercise recorded decline in examination malpractices across the federation.
He disclosed that the affected centres were involved in widespread cheating and extortion, allegedly charging the students between N500 and N1,000, adding that a comprehensive report would be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Education for further action.
Ojerinde said for instance, three centres at Nbawsi, Abia State, were “involved in extortion.
The JAMB boss added that “the team leader who covered the supervision of the examination in the town was given N15,000 from the proceeds. He collected it as exhibit and we have paid it to JAMB account. The receipt of payment will be sent to the school.”
Meanwhile, Professor Ojerinde has said only 47 candidates were able to score 250 and above, out of over one million candidates that sat for the Paper Pencil Test (PPT) and Dual-Based Test (DBT) modes of the UTME conducted on Saturday.
According to him, only 24 candidates scored 250 and above in the PPT, while 23 candidates scored 250 and above in the DBT, out of 1,015,504 that applied for both modes.
Giving the breakdown of the results of the sixth edition of UTME on the two modes, Ojerinde disclosed that in PPT, 275,282 candidates scored below 150; 122,157 scored between 150 and 159, while 115,456 scored between 160 and 169 points.
He also disclosed that 315,401 candidates scored between 170 and 199, while 108,488 candidates scored between 200 and 249.
On the DBT, Ojerinde said 2,471 candidates scored below 150, with 2,830 scoring between 150 and 159, while 3,808 scored between 160 and 169.
He also added that 6,678 candidates scored between 170 and 199, while 1,309 candidates scored between 200 and 249.
He explained that a total of 990,179 candidates applied for PPT, while 25,325 candidates applied for DBT, totalling 1,015,504 applicants.
The board, however, is yet to decide on the cut-off point.
JAMB Registrar further disclosed that universities had highest number of applicants as first choice, with 995,901 candidates, while 13,761 candidates chose polytechnics as first choice; 20,558 opted for colleges of education and 32 candidates for innovative enterprise institute as first choice.
Speaking on the conduct of the examinations, Professor Ojerinde said “it was one of the most successfully conducted exercise ever by the board.”
He said from the two modes of examinations conducted, there was a total of 36,164 invalid results due to improper shedding by candidates, while a total of 37,315 candidates were absent from the examination.
Also, a total of 1,865 centres were used for the conduct of PPT and 133 for DBT across the federation.
According to the JAMB boss, “in this year’s exercise, the board experienced a remarkable decrease in the number of applicants that registered for the PPT.
“This reduction in number is attributed to the growing confidence of candidates in the Computer-Based Test (CBT), which definitely will be full blown by 2015.
“Please take note that the 2014 CBT exercise will take place from Saturday, May 17 to Saturday, May 31.”
On exhibits recovered from centres during the examinations, Ojerinde said this year witnessed a decrease in candidates’ desperation and incidence of malpractice were not rampant, unlike what was witnessed last year.
He, however, said over a dozen handsets, irregular answer sheets, among others, were found on candidates.
Ojerinde disclosed that a medical doctor, who impersonated his wife and sat for the examination, was caught in Jigawa State, adding that the matter would be reported to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).