The results of this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination have been revealed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) (UTME).
The examination organisation, in a statement signed by Fabian Benjamin, the head of its public affairs and protocol branch, highlighted that the results are not yet available on its website, but that candidates can acquire them by texting “UTMERESULT to 55019.”
Only the phone number used by candidates to register for the exam will be eligible to send such codes, according to JAMB.
“To check the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, all a candidate has to do is send UTMERESULT to 55019 using the same phone number that he or she used for registration, and the result will be returned as a text message,” the notification reads in part. For the time being, this is the only way to check the results of the 2022 UTME, as the Board has not made them available on its website for obvious reasons.
“Moreover, candidates are reminded that, as is customary, they will get a barrage of mails from desperate con artists instructing them on how to check their results if they differ from the aforementioned one. As a result, the Board advises all candidates to disregard any letters advising them on how to check their 2022 UTME results, as they are all deceptive and intended to deceive them.”
According to JAMB, it “installed this user-friendly and simplified process of checking UTME results” in order to comply with the government’s ease of doing business guideline.
“Furthermore, this simplified approach would serve to prevent the unconscionable abuse of applicants by shylock business centres and cybercafes, who frequently exploit naïve candidates,” it stated.
The UTME this year was held between Friday, May 6, and Friday, May 13, 2022, in 750 computer-based centres around the country.
Over 1.7 million candidates, including 383 blind students, took part in the examinations, according to the examining authority.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is keeping quiet about known flaws.
However, minor technical issues such as biometric capturing machine failures, computer glitches, and incomplete questions were reported at various centres around the country.
However, the exam board has yet to address these flaws, particularly the incomplete questions, and has not reacted to requests from parents and candidates about what to expect as a solution.
Exam administrators did, however, ask candidates to return home with the assurance that the exam would be rescheduled.
It is still unknown whether the impacted applicants’ exams were rescheduled or not.
Backlogs in admission
The UTME is an entrance exam for individuals seeking admission to Nigeria’s postsecondary institutions, such as universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and monotechnics.
Most public tertiary schools, however, have backlogs of candidates still to be officially admitted with the results of the UTME conducted in 2021 due to issues of industrial actions by these institutions’ personnel and the coronavirus-induced break.
Because of the ongoing 89-day strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based trade unions, the latest results provided by the examination body will result in yet another backlog for many of these institutions.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has also announced a two-week warning strike, which will begin on Monday, while its colleagues at institutions of education have given the government a 21-day deadline to either comply with their demands or face industrial action.
