The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the release of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, results, recording generally poor scores and withholding 64,624 candidates results out of the over 1.94 million candidates that registered and sat for the examination across the country.

Announcing the results on Monday in Abuja, the Registerar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede noted that out of the total of 1,989,668 candidates that registered for the examination that a total of 1,904,189 were present and verified, while 2,899 were present but unverified and 80,810 did not show up.

He said that about 77% of the 1,842,464 candidates whose results were released on Monday scored less than 200, while noting that the 1,989,668 candidates who registered for the exams represented about 24.7% higher than the figure for the previous year, 2023.

The examination took place in 118 towns and in over 700 centres across the country.

Giving a breakdown of the results of the 1,842,464 candidates released, the Board’s Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede noted that, “8,401 candidates scored 300 and above; 77,070 scored 250 and above; 439,974 scored 200 and above while 1,402,490 scored below 200.”

The Board will, in due time, announce the minimum benchmark for the 2024/2025 academic session admissions during its policy meeting to be held at a later date.

Recall that the cut off mark for admissions to universities has been around 180 to 200, over the years.

Giving the new format for acceptance of admissions, Oloyede advised that candidates must ensure they have a registered phone (SIM), as it was essential in performing the even more sensitive operations needed for completion of admission.

He said: “ Either a candidate sends ACCEPT/REJECT on his dedicated phone line to 55019/66019, or a candidate accepts or rejects any admission offer (programme change inclusive) with his/her fingerprint (biometric) at an accredited CBT centre or any JAMB Office.

“The above newly-crafted methods of accepting or rejecting admissions, are aimed at protecting the details of the candidates and upholding the sanctity of the admission process.

“With this new method, the candidates’ registered phone (SIM) is now more important than ever as it is now required to perform even more sensitive operations. We are in discussions with NCC on dedicated student’s SIM with restricted services.”

Meanwhile, Jamb has said that it won’t announce the names of the highest scorer this year for undisclosed reasons.