Results of 21,466 candidates, who were alleged to have engaged in examination malpractices during the last Universities Matriculation Examination are being withheld by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), pending the determination of their fate by the board.

Announcing the release of the results of the examination which took place nationwide on May 5, 2007, registrar of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, said the Matriculation and Examination Committee of JAMB would meet next Wednesday to determine the fate of the affected candidates.

Although Ojerinde said the fate of the students had not been sealed until the board takes a final decision on the matter, he noted that their cases were pretty bad because they were subjected to thorough scrutiny before the board decided to withhold their results.
However, he stated that those found to be innocent after the investigation would have their results in the next one week, adding that the actual number of candidates involved in examination malpractice would be determined when investigations are completed.

As a result of the continued investigation of the case of the affected candidates, Ojerinde explained that JAMB could not determine the best three candidates as it had done over the years, pointing out that it would not be proper to do that since some of the withheld results could still be cleared and released.
“Not making these details available right now does not diminish the process in any way or indicate that the board is not fully ready with the result It is a transparent system and the board is determined to ensure that no candidate is unfairly treated in the process,” he said.

Lamenting that some examiners and external agents had compromised their positions and actively colluded with candidates to perpetuate examination malpractice, the registrar said 299 of such cases were recorded during the examination.

Giving further details on the cases of irregularities, he noted that 11, 755 candidates came late to the examination centres without valid reasons, while 2,757 were caught spying or copying from prepared answers. Also 2,117 others did not have the electronic registration slip.

Ojerinde noted that in spite of repeated warning to candidates not to come to examination centres with handsets or any communication gadgets, many still disregarded the directive, as a result of which 1,948 candidates were caught with mobile phones during the last UME.

Imo State with 93, 065 candidates which represented 10.21 per cent of those who sat for the examination. It was followed by Anambra which had 64,689 or 7.10 per cent and Delta with 61,580 or 6.75 per cent. Some 53,243 out of the 911,679 candidates, who registered for the examination were absent.