15-year-old boy emerges best UTME candidate as JAMB releases 2019 results

Ekele Franklin, a 15-year-old boy, has emerged the overall best candidate for the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted between April 11 and 15.

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), disclosed this at a news conference while announcing the release of the 2019 UTME results on Saturday.

Having chosen the University of Lagos (UNILAG) as his first choice, the Imo state candidate had a cumulative score of 347. However, there are speculations that Franklin may not be admitted on account of his age.

Franklin was closely followed by Emmanuel Chidiebube, a 16-year-old boy from Abia state, who had a cumulative score of 346, while Isaac Olamide, 17, from Osun state, came third, having scored 345.

According to Oloyede, 57, 579 candidates scored between 250 and 299 while a total of 2,906 scored over 300.

He further revealed that 366,757 candidates scored between 200 and 249, a feat which, according to him, represents a plausible improvement in comparison with 2018 results.

“361,718 candidates scored between 180 and 199 as against 325,152 in 2018, while 494,484 scored between 160 and 179 as against 455,898 last year,” Oloyede said while hinting that 15,145 results were withheld for further clarifications.

“410,844 candidates scored between 140 and 159 as against 346,825 recorded in 2018 while also 99,463 scored between 100 and 139 as against 64,712 in 2018.”

Citing some of the infractions committed by candidates in connivance with CBT centres, Oloyede decried the persistent examination malpractices which he said “has eaten deeply” into Nigeria’s educational system.

He noted that the board has made representative arrests on accounts of varying infractions, some of which led to the delisting of a total of 116 CBT centres across the country.

“In Nigeria, examination malpractice is exacerbated by the insatiable greed and desperate antics of parents, who are hell-bent on inducting their innocent and not-so-innocent children into the world of sharp practices and corruption,” he said.

“Double registrations led to the cancellation of some results last year. This year, we realized not only double registrations but also multiple. Someone, for instance, registered as many as 23 times for just a single examination.

“Most of the tutorial masters specialise in recruiting professional writers for the candidates. We were able to identify a large number of impersonators who have been writing UTME for candidates.

“We have also tracked registration centres. In cases where we were able to ascertain the culpability of the centres, we delisted them. We have made representative arrests and we must thank the Inspector-General of Police and the Commandant-General of the NSCDC for their wonderful cooperation.”