Saheed Ibrahim

Claim: Multiple social media posts claim that JAMB has set the UTME minimum cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session.

Verdict: False! JAMB has not conducted the policy meeting to set the official cut-off marks. There has also been no official announcement by JAMB on the 2024/20225 cut-off marks.

Full Text

Over 1.9 million candidates took the computer-based 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) between April 19 and 29. The UTME is conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to rank candidates seeking admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

A breakdown of the candidates’ performances shows that of the 1,842,464 released results, only 0.4% of the candidates scored above 300. Twenty-four per cent scored 200 and above, while 1,1,402,490, 76 per cent of the candidates, got below 200 out of the total 400 marks.

Stakeholders and Nigerians described This performance as woeful, given that over 70 per cent of the candidates had only half of the total scores (400).

However, a message is circulating on WhatsApp that JAMB has fixed the 2024 cut-off marks required to be admitted into the universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education for the 2024/2025 academic session.

Parts of the message read: JUST in: The JAMB cut-off Mark 2024 is the minimum score a candidate must have in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to qualify to participate in post-UTME.

“The admissions body has announced the official JAMB cut-off mark for admissions into various tertiary institutions in the country.

“JAMB pegged a minimum of 160 marks for admission into the university, with 120 and 100 marks set for admission into Colleges of Education and Innovative Institutions.

“Also, some universities may set their cut-off marks at 180, as they have done in the past. The primary thing is that their cut-off marks must not be set below jamb marks.”

However, a keyword search on Google revealed that a similar message was published on a blog –UTME2024 – on April 14, titled ‘Jamb/UTME Cut-off Mark 2024/2025 For All Schools.’ Despite claiming that JAMB approves 160 for federal and state universities, the blog published 140 for the universities in its breakdown of cut-off marks for tertiary institutions, 120 for polytechnics, and 100 for colleges of education.

In the comment section of the blog post, Sulaimon Olanshile asked, 

“I scored 185 in JAMB. Can I gain admission to the University of Ibadan?”

Adamu Muhammad also said, “Thank you for saving millions of people,” while Ibitoye Oluwapelumibolu asked, “Which university does collect 147 for their Medical Laboratory Science?”

A similar claim can also be found here.

Due to the suspicious nature of the post, DUBAWA decided to conduct a fact check. 

Verification

How does JAMB set minimum cut-off marks?

After every UTME, a Policy Meeting is conveyed by JAMB to set the National Minimum Tolerable UTME Score (NTMUS), otherwise known as the cut-off mark for the various levels of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The policy meeting will have university vice-chancellors, rectors of polytechnics, and provosts of colleges of education in attendance. Institutions can set their cut-off above the agreed minimum marks but cannot go below them.

DUBAWA checked JAMB’s official website and social media handles but found no information regarding any scheduled or completed policy meeting to attain minimum marks for admission into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 admission.

Further search across various national dailies did not show such a meeting was held or a cut-off mark set.

Conclusion

The claims that JAMB has released the minimum cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 session are false. The policy meeting to agree on the minimum cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions has yet to be convened. There has also been no official announcement by JAMB on cut-off marks.

This report is produced for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship in partnership with The Hope Newspaper to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in Nigeria.