Why JAMB’s highest scorer will forfeit score, admission

Having score 347, Ekele Franklin emerged the best candidate in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), released on Saturday.

But the 15-year-old Imo native has a problem: he has to forfeit his record score and admission into any Nigerian university.

Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyode, while speaking on the results released said that the best candidate may not be admitted to the University of Lagos, which he chose as his first choice because of age.

Franklin emerged as the best in the list of over 1.8m candidates but following the National Universities Commission (NUC) minimum age rule for admission into the university which public universities don’t compromise, he stands disqualified to register as a student of the University of Lagos, his first choice school.

The second best candidate with 346 marks, 16-year-old Emmanuel Chidiebube, is from Abia State, while 17-year-old Oluwo Isaac Olamilekan Oloyode from Osun State came third with 345 marks.