JAMB: Peter Obi Bemoans 2024 UTME Mass Failure, Recommends Solutions

• The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has bemoaned the failure percentage in the recently released 2024 UTME results
• He said the mass failure should be a significant cause for concern for a nation that is eyeing to sit at the same table with world powers
• He noted the need to prioritise developments in the education sector by imbursing funds there

The former governor of Anambra state and Labour Party flagbearer in the fiercely contested 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has lamented the massive failure recorded in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results.

He described the shocking statistics as an alarming setback that the government’s higher-ups should urgently address.

JAMB has revealed that it may not release results of candidates it withheld for misconductsSource: Twitter

He made this statement in a post he publicised on his ever-active X handle (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Obi explained that even though Nigeria’s literacy rate is said to be above 50%, it is still far low compared to countries like Philippines, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

He said:

“One of the consequences of the reported general poor performance in UTME is that with our population of over 200 million, Nigeria can only boast of about 2 million full-time students in different universities”

He made a point by continuing that Iran, which has an 89 million population ‘has over 8.2 million students in one University alone, Islamic Azad University’

Full Breakdown of UTME 2024 Results

A total of 1,842,464 UTME results have been released so far by JAMB, with 64,624 under investigation for reported misconduct. 0.5% of UTME candidates scored 300 and above, a development that would worry education stakeholders.

TheTalk.NG gives a breakdown of how candidates performed at the just-concluded UTME.

1. 1,842,464 results have been released so far with 64,624 under investigation.
2. 4.2% scored 250 and above, a total of 77,070.
3. 1,989,668 candidates registered and sat for the examination in 118 towns and over 700 centres across the country.
4. 0.5% of candidates scored 300 and above, a total of 8,401.
5. 49.4% of the candidates (982,393) were male.
6. 50.6% of the candidates (1,007,275) were female.
7. 76% scored 199 and below, a total of 1,402,490.
8. 24% scored 200 and above, a total of 439,974.

Obi concluded by saying:

“This underscores the urgency of the attention needed in our education sector. In solving this challenge, we must prioritise education as a key driver of development by aggressively investing in education, enhancing teacher training programs, and implementing inclusive policies.”

76% of candidates score below 200 in UTME

Earlier, TheTalk.NG reported that no fewer than 1,402,490 candidates scored less than 200 in the recently released 2024 UTME result.

The figure represents 76 per cent of the 1,842,464 candidates who sat for the tertiary entrance examination.

Source: TheTalk.NG