An Abuja based lawyer, Chukwuma Nwachukwu, has invoked the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, following the examination body’s decision to withhold information on the top scorers in the recently released results of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
ln a letter the legal practitioner forwarded to JAMB, he requested to be furnished with names and scores of the 10 best candidates in the 2024 UTME, within seven days, in line with provisions of the FOI Act.
The applicant said that 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 in the examination.
“The above application is made pursuant to the provisions of Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 which provides that.
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“Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation, the right of any person to 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,” parts of the letter read.
The lawyer further stated that an applicant under the Act needs not demonstrate any specific interest in the information being applied for, noting that any person entitled to the right to information under the Act can institute proceedings in court to compel any public institution to comply with the provisions of the Act.
“Take notice that the aforesaid law further provides that I should receive the information applied for within 7 days,” Nwachukwu added.
He further observed that JAMB had, in the results of the UTME it announced to the public, disclosed that barely a quarter of the total candidates scored above 200.
Statistics released by the 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.
The records also show that results of 64,624 candidates were withheld.
“The Board is today releasing the results of 1,842,464 candidates. 64,624 results are under investigation for verification, procedural investigation of candidates, centre-based investigation and alleged examination misconduct,” the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Oloyede stated while announcing the release of the results.