Over 1.5 million candidates who scored below 200 in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have petitioned the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), demanding a review of the results and full disclosure of marked answers—or face legal action.
The candidates, numbering 1,534,654, made their demand through a petition dated May 12 and addressed to the examination body. The petition, signed by their legal representative, Barr. John Nwobodo, invokes the Freedom of Information Act to request transparency in the marking process and disclosure of individual question-and-answer sheets.
“The statistics reveal the worst failure rate ever in the history of the JAMB-conducted examination,” Nwobodo stated. “Our clients highly dispute the results as not reflective of their effort, presupposing that there might have been a possible glitch in the JAMB software, potentially resulting in a mismatch between questions and answers.”
According to the data provided in the petition, the affected candidates include:
2,031 who scored below 100,
3,820 with scores between 100–119,
57,419 between 120–139,
488,197 between 140–159, and
983,187 between 160–199.
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JAMB had earlier announced that only 22% of candidates scored 200 and above, sparking national concern over the dismal performance.
The petition claims that JAMB’s system only displays final scores per subject without revealing the marked answers or how scores were computed—raising transparency concerns.
“It is imperative that your Board reconfigure its system to allow candidates access to the questions they were given and the corresponding marked answers,” the petition reads. “This will either validate the results or expose issues requiring urgent reforms to preserve the credibility of future examinations.”
Barr. Nwobodo also warned that if JAMB fails to respond adequately, legal steps would be taken to ensure justice for the aggrieved candidates.