Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) number of applications received in 2018 was 1,653,127 as against 1,722,269 candidates received in 2017.
This, it said, represents about 4.01 per cent drop in comparison to the applications received in 2017.
Similarly, the number of candidates admitted in 2018 was 549,763 candidates as against 566,719 admitted in 2017.
According to NBS, the fall in the number of candidates admitted in 2018 is 2.99 per cent compared to those admitted in 2017.
Further breakdown showed that 902,176 applications received in 2018 were male candidates while 750,951 applications were female applicants.
In 2017, however, 952,436 of the applications were male candidates while the remaining 769,833 were female applicants.
In 2018, 302,183 male candidates were admitted as against 315,678 male candidates admitted in 2017 while 247,580 female candidates were admitted in 2018 as against 251,041 female candidates admitted in 2017.