The results of this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination have been released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) (UTME).
The examination body, in a statement released on Saturday afternoon and signed by Fabian Benjamin, the head of its public affairs and protocol unit, noted that the results are not yet available on its website, but that candidates can obtain them by texting “UTMERESULT to 55019.”
Only the phone number used by candidates to register for the exam will be eligible to receive such codes, according to JAMB.
“To check the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, all a candidate needs 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 announcement reads in part. For the time being, this is the only way to check the 2022 UTME results because the Board has not yet released them on its website for obvious reasons.
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“In addition, candidates are warned that they will receive a barrage of messages 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 all such messages about how to check their 2022 UTME results, as they are all deceptive and intended to deceive them.”
JAMB also stated that it “placed this user-friendly and simplified process of checking UTME results” in order to comply with the government’s ease of doing business protocol.
“Furthermore, this simplified process would serve to prevent the unconscionable exploitation of candidates by shylock business centres and cybercafes,” it added.
This year’s UTME was held between Friday, May 6, and Friday, May 13, 2022, in 750 computer-based centres around the country.
More than 1.7 million candidates, including 383 blind students, took part in the exams, according to the examination organisation.
JAMB has remained silent about the detected flaws.
Minor technical issues, such as biometric capturing machine failures, computer malfunctions, and incomplete questions, were reported in some centres across the country.
However, the exam body has yet to acknowledge these issues, particularly the incomplete questions, and has not responded to questions from parents and candidates about what to expect in terms of solutions.
Exam administrators did, however, ask students to return home with the assurance that they would be rescheduled for the exam.
It is still unknown whether the impacted candidates have been rescheduled or whether the exams have been held.
Backlogs in admissions
Candidates seeking admission to Nigeria’s higher institutions, such as universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and monotechnics, must take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
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However, most public tertiary schools have backlogs of candidates still to be officially admitted with the results of the UTME conducted in 2021 due to issues of industrial action by these institutions’ personnel and the coronavirus-induced break.
Because of the continuing 89-day strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based trade unions, the new results provided by the examination body will create yet another backlog for many of these institutions.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has also issued 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 agree to their demands or face industrial action.
