The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said it has released 15,490 results of candidates who were suspected of being involved in one examination infraction or another.
The board also said the release followed the expert review of the cases of this category of candidates who were requested to upload certain credentials for scrutiny.
Recall that the JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, on May 11 said some results were withheld because investigations are still ongoing.
“Today, we are releasing the results of 1,792,719 candidates. Some 34,120 results are being withheld including the results of 15,145 candidates being further clarified as identical twins and siblings,” he had said.
In a statement sent on Monday morning, the spokesperson of the board, Fabian Benjamin said ”the board probed the identity and involvement of some candidates who were suspected of being involved in one examination infraction or another, the Board has further cleared and released the results of 15,490 candidates in this category”.
According to him, at the conclusion of the review exercise, this category of candidates with suspected infractions were further classified into five groups.
The five categories
He said the first category are those who have sufficiently proved their innocence.
Mr Fabian said the second category are those with inconclusive evidence of culpability and were given the benefit of the doubt because of the guiding principles of the Board that it is better for many criminals to go free than to punish one innocent candidate.
”Consequently, the results of categories (i)and (ii) were part of the 15,490 released on Saturday, 8th June, 2019. They are to send RESULT to 55019 for their result,” he said.
He said category three are those whose upload of evidence necessitated further interrogation
”The third categories have been notified and invited (through phone call, their profile, text message and email) to designated centres across the country for further clarification of the evidence against them. It is in their interest to attend otherwise the evidence will be taken as conclusive,” he said.
”For category four, those whose culpability have been firmly established thus necessitating the cancellation of their results. A total of additional 321 results were therefore conclusively cancelled and the candidates are being notified,” he said.
He said the fifth category are those who did not heed the advice to upload evidence of their identity vis-a-vis the other impersonators.
The spokesperson said there is incontrovertible evidence of their culpability.
”They also have their results cancelled along with category (iv) above. Further more, four additional CBT centres were found culpable and were also delisted,” he said.
He said it seems the resolve to block all loopholes for examination malpractice is being underestimated by examination cheats and other fraudulent characters.
”The Board will continue to deploy cutting-edge technology and also engage the services of globally-acclaimed experts to ensure that the sanctity of its examination is protected,” he said.
Background
Recall how 1,886,508 candidates registered for the exams across the country. The number includes candidates who registered at foreign centres.
“Out of this number, which excludes the Direct Entry candidates, 59,667 were absent. A total of 1,826,839 sat the UTME.
However, in the course of curbing malpractice, the board also released the results of some candidates earlier cleared of wrongdoing last week.
JAMB also conducted fresh examinations in two centres – Abuja and Otuoke, to examine the 490 candidates who missed examination as a result of apparent communication lapses.
The board also said from next year, UTME candidates will make all payments associated with registration, purchase of e-pins, reading text and conduct of mock examinations at one point.
