More than 85,000 out of the 98,232 candidates who were supposed to write the nationwide mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Saturday did not show up.

Only about 12,000 candidates took the exam, which is just 12 percent of those expected.

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, said the turnout was very poor. He explained that mop-up exams are usually organised for a few thousand candidates who missed the main UTME due to illness or technical problems.

He said:

“Every year, we organise mop-up exams for about 4,000 or 5,000 students who have genuine reasons for missing the main exam. But this year, we allowed everyone who missed it to come back, regardless of the reason.”

Oloyede explained that this year’s mop-up exam was also used to catch impersonators and exam cheats, with the help of security agencies like the DSS and police.

He added:

“We got intelligence reports about people planning to cheat. That is why the number of candidates expected was large, but only few showed up. Many CBT centres expected 250 candidates per session, but fewer than 20 came.”

The Registrar accused some tutorial centres and private school owners of forming groups to help students cheat in exams.

He also revealed that some candidates falsely declared themselves as albinos to beat JAMB’s facial recognition system. This year, 1,787 candidates claimed to be albinos, compared to fewer than 100 in previous years. He said:

“Some centres registered hundreds of fake albinos. They do this because the AI used for facial recognition treats albinos differently. We even arrested a black man in Benin pretending to be an albino.”

He warned that those who registered for the mop-up exam but failed to appear would be traced and punished, as JAMB has their names, schools, NINs, and phone numbers.

Oloyede also said parents who sponsor exam malpractice for their children could soon face prosecution.

On the mop-up exam results, he said they may be delayed till Monday, June 30, to allow JAMB to remove results of suspected cheats.

Speaking on Direct Entry (DE) admissions, Oloyede revealed that 14 candidates were caught with fake certificates this year. He explained how some people were awarded fake NCE certificates without attending any college, just to qualify for Direct Entry. He said:

“One student finished secondary school in 2021 but was supposedly admitted to NCE in 2020 and graduated in 2023. Many institutions are involved in this fraud, and they will face consequences.