Abuja-Based Lawyer Gives JAMB Seven Days To Release Names, Scores Of 10 Best Candidates

An Abuja-based lawyer, Chukwuma Nwachukwu, has invoked the Freedom of Information Act, FOI, against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over its decision to withhold information about its top scorers in the recently released 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results.

The legal practitioner, in a letter he addressed to JAMB, asked for the names and scores of the 10 best candidates in the 2024 UTME, within seven days, in line with provisions of the FOI Act.

According to him, it was wrong for JAMB to withhold the requested information when it gave a breakdown of the performance of candidates that partook in the examination, on April 29.

Consequently, he specifically asked the Registrar General of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, to supply him with: “The names and scores of the 10 best students and their respective performances in the above examination.”

“The above application is made under the provisions of Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 which provides that.

“Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation, the right of any person co access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described or established.

“An Applicant under this Act needs not demonstrate any specific interest in the information being applied for.

“Any person entitled to the right to information under this Act, shall have the right to institute proceedings in the Court to compel any public institution to comply with the provisions of this Act.

“Take Notice that the aforesaid law further provides that I should receive the information applied for within 7 days.

“Necessary Fees regarding this application shall be paid,” the letter further read.

It will be recalled that JAMB had, in the results of the UTME, disclosed that barely a quarter of the total candidates scored above 200.

Statistics released by the examination body showed that out of 1,904,189 candidates that sat for the exams, 1,402,490 (73.7%) of the students scored below 200.