By Oluwole Josiah, Abuja
Published: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has withheld the results of 23,819 candidates who sat for the April 4, 2009 Universities Matriculation Examination for involvement in malpractices.

Our Correspondent
Registrar of the board, Prof.

A total of 1,182,381 candidates applied for the examination, but only 1,145,961 actually sat for the examination with 36,417 absent.

While announcing the results of the examination on Tuesday, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, said the results withheld represented 2.07 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination.

He said there was also a drop in the cases of malpractices when compared with what obtained in 2008 where 2.24 per cent was recorded.

He, however, said, “The examination committee and the Governing Council of the board will meet to take a final decision on the results, but there is no way they will be released because we have clear evidence against the candidates.”

Ojerinde noted that 548,543 candidates of the total number scored 200 marks and above, while 14, 847 scored between 190 and 199. 199 of the total number sat for the examination in countries outside Nigeria, namely: Ghana, Cameroun, South Africa, Republic of Benin and Saudi Arabia.

According to JAMB’s breakdown of applications, Imo and Anambra states had the highest number of applications with 106,375 and 78,803 respectively. Other states in order of their applications were Delta, 77,318; Edo 65,271; Ogun, 58,014 and Osun, 57,404.

The analysis showed that Akwa Ibom and Abia states which occupied the fifth and sixth positions last year were displaced by Ogun and Osun respectively.

Six states, namely, Gombe, Sokoto, Taraba, Kebbi, Zamfara and Yobe in that order, recorded the lowest number of applications in 2009.

According to Ojerinde, Jigawa and the Federal Capital Territory have dropped from the list of lowest six states, while Yobe remains the lowest, just as Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara still belonged to the league.

The results also showed that the Faculty of Social Sciences still recorded the highest applications by candidates with a figure of 275,208. It had recorded the highest last year.

It was closely followed by Administration, Medicine, Engineering and Sciences, Arts/Humanities, Law, Education, Environment and Pharmacy respectively.

Agriculture recorded the lowest with about 13, 408 applications, the same placement it had in 2008.

On the performance chart, Irene Edem, a 16-year-old from Cross River State was the best performing candidate, with a score of 310. She had applied to read Communications with options at the ABTI-American University of Nigeria.

Igugu Obukohwo Igugu, 23, a male candidate from Delta State came second with a score of 308 and had applied to read Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at the University of Lagos.

Konye Odinde, another female candidate from Delta State, who is 18 years and Raymond Moses-Gombo, a male, 47, from Delta State, also tied with Igugu at 308. Both had applied to study Economics and History respectively at the University of Lagos.

The results also showed that 667,771 males and 514,610 females sat for the 2009 UME, just as 71 visually impaired persons applied for the UME, but only 65 actually sat for the examination.

Ojerinde said the board conducted UME at Ikoyi and Kaduna Prisons for eligible inmates who had indicated interest for the examination and would have completed their jail sentences by the next admission exercise.

He said a total of 46 inmates took the exams. 13 of them were of the Ikoyi Prisons, while other 33 were of Kaduna Prisons.

On the proposed Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, which would replace UME next year, Ojerinde clarified that the board’s matriculation examinations were not scrapped as erroneously reported.

He said, “Rather, the idea is to have a single examination for all tertiary institutions which gives candidates wide choice of institutions and this will invariably enhance their chances of securing admission into tertiary institutions.

“The general entry requirement to all the institutions will be the same five credit passes at Senior Secondary Certificate Examination level while the entry qualification will be determined by individual institutions.”

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