The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) said about 600,000 of 1,116,021 eligible candidates who sat the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME) have been offered admission into various universities in the country.
The eligible candidates scored at least 140 in the UTME tests and possess at least 5 O level credits, including English and Mathematics.
JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this on Saturday during an ongoing policy meeting with heads of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
He said the figure was 557,625 when extracted on Monday, 19 June, but has now crossed 600,000.
He, however, said admission processes for the 2021/2022 admissions are still ongoing, citing the eight-month industrial action of the university workers in 2022 as the reason for the elongated process.
Of all the 1,867,743 candidates who took part in the 2022 UTME tests, only 1,615,656 scored at least 140 on the tests. Only 1,700,841 score 100 and above, the JAMB Registrar said.
However, only 1,116,021 candidates scored 140 and above and also possess the O-level requirements to be admitted into Nigerian universities.
Mr Oloyede clarified that it is wrong to claim that not all candidates who sat the computer-based Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are eligible for admission.
He said some of the candidates who scored above the minimum points and were regarded as eligible candidates were only ‘trial candidates’ who have not sat or possessed the mandatory O’level results.
“They are trial candidates. Even when they score 400 over 400, they don’t have what it takes to be admitted to the universities,” he said.
He also said other situations that make it look as if the candidates aren’t qualified because they were not admitted is due to what he described as the rigidity of candidates who he said stick to only one course “where in most cases have more competition than others.”
For instance, Mr Oloyede said more than 400,000 candidates applied for Medicine and Surgery with only 78,000 slots available across all Nigerian universities.