Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has explained why the board partnered with Rite Foods Limited on its new N35 million annual National Academic Excellence Award, stating that the initiative finally corrects the ’embarrassing’ practice of celebrating high UTME scores for students who ultimately fail to secure university admission.
Speaking in Lagos at the official launch of the maiden award, Professor Oloyede revealed that JAMB accepted the strategic partnership because the selection process looks beyond Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results to evaluate actual, finalised admissions into Nigerian universities.
‘Somebody can score a very high mark in UTME and still not be admitted if he or she does not have the O’Level results requirement, proper subject combination, or do well in the post-UTME assessment.
‘So, what is the essence of celebrating somebody with a high UTME score who is not admitted? It will be very embarrassing. That is why JAMB accepted to partner with Rite Foods on this project, because it shows they are doing things differently and rightly,’ Oloyede explained.
The N35 million annual fund targets the highest-performing, newly admitted students in public universities across the six geopolitical zones of the country, alongside a beneficiary from the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, which supports candidates with disabilities. Each recipient gets N5 million to support their education.
To ensure absolute credibility and transparency, JAMB led a rigorous aggregate assessment evaluating three critical touchpoints: O’Level results, UTME scores, and post-UTME performance.
Professor Oloyede commended Rite Foods Limited for the initiative, describing it as distinctive and unprecedented in the history of the UTME.
The launch event featured the presentation of dummy cheques, mentorship packages, and internship slots to the winners, who include Nigeria’s highest overall aggregate scorer, Okeke Chinedu Christian (Mechanical Engineering, UNILAG), and visually impaired scholar, Ogunsua-Dixon Tijesuni Mitchelle (Mass Communication, UNILAG), among five others from various regional public universities including the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, speaking through his Special Adviser, Dr Ismaila Adeatu, also praised the initiative as a vital private-sector support mechanism for government educational investments.
Earlier, the Managing Director of Rite Foods Limited, Mr Seleem Adegunwa, emphasised that the multi-million naira commitment is a national imperative aimed at converting Nigeria’s massive youth demographic into a strong economic lever.
Adegunwa urged recipients to remain committed to their studies and also be disciplined, and learn to solve societal problems and lift Nigeria to a first-world country.