Shocking! Over 80% of Candidates Missed Mop-Up UTME—JAMB Reveals

Over 80 percent of the 98,232 candidates eligible for the Mop-Up UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) held on Saturday did not attend, a situation the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has linked to heightened security protocols aimed at preventing impersonators and cheating.

JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who observed the process at the Technology CBT Centre in NAF Valley Estate, Abuja, informed reporters that the participation rate was worryingly low, with only about 12 percent of registered candidates attending nationwide.

Oloyede stated that mop-up exams are usually organized for a small number of candidates with valid reasons like illness or verified technical difficulties that prevented them from taking the main UTME.

“Annually, we conduct mop-up examinations. Typically, it involves around 4,000 to 5,000 students who, due to illness or valid reasons, could not participate in the exam. Or those who we determined had technical issues at their centers. This is usually for around 4,000 to 5,000 students. We do this every year,” he explained.

He mentioned that the unusually large number of candidates needing mop-up this year was due to claims of widespread absences during the main examination, prompting the Board to offer every candidate a second chance while utilizing intelligence gathered from security agencies.

“Based on the judgment of our management and our stakeholders, we decided that everyone who missed the exam should be granted an opportunity. Regardless of the reasons for their absence. However, we were also aware that we were more informed.

“Thanks to the collaboration we’ve had with the SSS and the police, we have gathered intelligence and information that we could utilize. To effectively apprehend those engaging in impersonation.

“Thus, we thought it wise to keep the opportunity as broad as possible. This was mainly to catch (impersonators)… … As you can see, the turnout across the country is significantly lower than expected. Of those who indicated they would come out of the 90,000, only about 12,000 eventually showed up,” he added.

He further noted that some CBT centers anticipating 250 candidates per session logged fewer than 20 attendees, which he had expected.

“What we are dealing with is a network of syndicates, especially those claiming to be tutorial centers. These include certain private school owners who have become part of examination malpractice syndicates,” Oloyede remarked, emphasizing that with the Ministry of Education’s commitment to tackle this issue, they aim to minimize exam malpractice.

The JAMB head also revealed that some individuals tried to deceive the system by falsely claiming to be albino to exploit weaknesses in facial recognition technology.

“In previous years, we have never had even close to 100 candidates identified as albino. However, this year, there are 1,787 claiming that status. So, out of 2 million candidates, 1,787 were reported as albino.

“This situation led us to discover that one center registered 450 of these alleged albinos, as if a large number of albinos from Africa had decided to take exams at that location.

“What motive do they have for registering several individuals as albinos? They are not truly albinos. It stems from the fact that the AI they used had specific features that made them look more scrutinized if they did not declare themselves as albino on our form.

“It alters their appearance, making it more reddish. So, when one of those arrested or currently in custody provided information, they indicated that this is merely the first step toward their strategy.”

“We are now pursuing everyone who has claimed to be albino. We discovered that there are fewer than 250 individuals who fall into this category…

“You can see the Black man who was detained in Benin claiming to be an albino. How does one become an albino? But that’s one of their tactics. They declare themselves as albinos… What they do in blending is, if you plan to impersonate him, they will take your photo side by side with his. And then they blend the images. When you look at the resulting picture, it will resemble both of you. That’s what AI is doing now. It’s merging images,” he explained.

The registrar stressed that those suspected of impersonation, who did not sit for the exam after alleging that they were excluded from the main UTME, would not escape consequences.

“They registered under their names. They have schools. They possess National Identification Numbers (NINs). They had their phone numbers. The security forces can track them down. Some of them have already been apprehended,” he stated.

Oloyede also suggested that parents discovered to be funding examination malpractice for their children would soon be investigated and could face charges.

Regarding the results of the mop-up exams, he mentioned that while they would be prepared by Saturday, the board might postpone their release until Monday to facilitate additional scrutiny and the elimination of suspected fraudulent entries.

“So that might lead us to delay until Monday, just to determine how many of those criminals we have captured,” he remarked.

Discussing Direct Entry (DE) admissions, Oloyede revealed that this year, 14 candidates had already been found presenting fake certificates. He expressed concern about the complicity of educational institutions in this fraud.

“A recent issue we discovered during the ongoing registration was that around 20 to 30 students who did not go through the National Certificate in Education (NCE) program were being awarded NCE certificates to qualify for Direct Entry.

“One student who completed secondary school in 2021 was falsely indicated as having been admitted to the NCE in 2020, supposedly graduating in 2023. The rationale was that there was a pardon granted by the previous Minister of Education between 2017 and 2020. Those who were unlawfully admitted, due to their high numbers, were recommended for condonation because it was believed that they were largely innocent.

“This involved approximately 1 million students. We aimed to clarify their status. But when we requested their certificates for verification, they were nonexistent. Some graduates, who are now medical doctors, are presenting results in chemistry and biology from after graduation… This cannot be fixed post-graduation. If you aspire to become an engineer, you must do so with a credit in mathematics. Once you are caught, claiming you will complete the GCE afterward does not suffice. You should have had that credit before pursuing the program.

“We have a significant number of these cases. So now, because they can no longer continue with them since our gates are closed, they are admitting students after 2020.

“They are attempting to validate their credentials from 2017 and 2020. Numerous institutions are involved in this, and all of them will have to be held accountable,” he concluded.