The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has dispelled reports of widespread failure in the country’s ongoing 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Dr Fabian Benjamin, the JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, revealed this in a statement made accessible to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.

Benjamin claimed that the report of widespread failure was a fluke and a campaign by those whose illicit income sources had been cut off, claiming that the performance in 2021 was not considerably different from prior years.

“The board ordinarily would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates, who were ill-prepared for the examination.

“And who, true to all expectations, performed below the expectations of their guardians, that the Board had based its questions on the wrong syllabus.

“It is our belief that based on facts on the ground, every right-thinking Nigerian would question the 6,944,368 figure on which the 14 per cent “pass” is based.

“For instance, in the 2021 UTME, 1, 415,501 registered for both UTME/DE. Out of this figure, 1,340,003 candidates registered for UTME and 75, 498 registered for DE,” he said.

However, Benjamin stated that the truth was that all UTME questions were based on literature stipulated in the UTME syllabus.

According to him, the board made the material available on three platforms to guarantee that all students taking the exams could access it.

“The syllabus was issued to candidates through the board’s Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS), the CD which is given to candidates after completion of registration.

“The link https://www.ibass.jamb.gov.ng. as provided with the candidates’ profile code.

“It is not automatic that the NECO/WAEC syllabus should transform into JAMB’s otherwise there would not have been a need for a separate syllabus for the UTME,” he said.

Benjamin went on to say that the UTME was not a school-based or accomplishment test, but rather a selection or ranking test that does not require a syllabus and does not have a fail or pass option like an achievement test.

He went on to say that there were 1,300,722 candidates who took the UTME, with 78 389 candidates missing out.

Source: The Nations