The passing of the UTME examination is a prerequisite for seeking admission into tertiary schools in Nigeria.
About 4,385 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board candidates who sat the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and scored 300 and above out of a possible 400 did not gain admission into tertiary schools between 2019 and 2022 in Nigeria.
The passing of the UTME examination is a prerequisite for seeking admission into tertiary schools in Nigeria.
According to a detailed analysis of the data obtained from JAMB by The PUNCH, 6.9 million candidates sat the examination between 2019 and 2022 with only 2.03 million of them admitted into various tertiary schools while 4.87 million candidates failed to secure admission.
It was discovered that in 2019, a total of 2,967 candidates scored 300 or above yet only 2,288 were admitted, leaving out 679 competitors.
In 2020, a total of 4,948 candidates scored 300 or higher. However, 3,492 of the 4,948 candidates were admitted meaning that 1,456 were denied entrance. A total of 715 students scored 300 or above in the 2021 exams, but only 590 were admitted, while 125 were denied entrance.
JAMB noted that 35 out of the 125 candidates, who were denied admission, applied to study Medicine and Surgery.
A total of 64 applied for engineering-related courses; one for education; 18 for science-related courses
In 2022, a total of 5,833 scored 300 and above. While 3,708 were admitted, 2,125 failed to secure admission into tertiary institutions.
Commenting on the reasons why candidates, including high scorers, fail to get admitted, JAMB, in the document blamed it on: “Wrong O’Level subject combination; low post-UTME screening score; non-acceptance of admission offer; duplication of application; absence from post-UTME screening and mismatch of catchment.”