2019 UTME: JAMB remits N5bn to Nigerian govt

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it remitted N5 billion to the federal government’s purse after the conduct of its 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

This is contained in the board’s weekly bulletin signed by the JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, Mr Fabian Benjamin, on Monday in Lagos.

Benjamin explained later in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the federal government gave back N2 billion out of the N5 billion to the board to enhance its operations.

“The board returned N5 billion to the federal government, but out of that amount, the board was given N2 billion to further enhance its operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, some 2019 UTME candidates have alleged challenges in accessing their results through telephone as advised by JAMB.

JAMB released the results on Saturday and directed candidates to use the same telephone numbers they used in vending the pins for the examination registration documents to access their results by sending RESULT to a code – 55019.

Of the over 1.8 million candidates who registered for the examination, a total of 1,792,719 had their results released by the board.

The board withheld results of 34,120 candidates over alleged examination malpractice, while results of 15,145 candidates are undergoing further clarification, as in the case of identical twins and siblings, for example.

A parent, Bridget Otuagha, said his son had yet to get the result in spite of many efforts.

According to her, the candidate followed the process many times without success.

“I am worried about this whole thing. My son has been trying to get his result since Saturday to no avail.

“He has been sending this RESULT to the said code, up until this morning, and there has been no response to that effect.

“JAMB should see if there is another way,” she said.

Another concerned parent, Florence Ibem, also said her son had the same issue.

“Since they released the results, we have not been able to access his score through the telephone number we used in acquiring the registration pin.

“After sending RESULT to the said code severally, there was still no result. This is disturbing and frustrating.

“Something should be done, and urgently too. Even if it is withheld or cancelled, I think we deserve to know,” she said.

When contacted, Mr Benjamin, the board’s Head, Media and Information, apologised to the affected candidates on behalf of the board.

According to him, the challenge was from the service providers.

He said the board had summoned the service providers for a meeting on the issue.

“We have just had a meeting with the service providers and they assured us that they are working hard to get the issue addressed. In no distant time, such candidates should be able to access their results without any hitch.

“We are just trying to ensure that all the candidates deserving of results should have firsthand information of their performances via their telephones.

“After that, we will post the results on our website for candidates to go ahead and print,” he said.

Credit: NAN

NSE delists Newrest ASL, market capitalisation loses N141 billion

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened for the week on Monday still on a bearish trend, amid sell pressure and delisting of Newrest ASL from the Official List.

Specifically, the All-Share Index declined by 1.26 per cent or 363.37 points to close at 28,484.44 compared with 28,847.81 achieved on Friday.

Also, the market capitalisation shed N141 billion, representing a dip of 1.30 per cent to close at N10.701 trillion against N10.842 trillion on Friday.

This followed the delisting of Newrest ASL 634 million entire share capital from the daily official list of the Exchange.

Market performance was influenced by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are, Mobil Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Guinness Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank and PZ Cussons Nigeria.

Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited said “equities continue in negative band as bearish trend continues and the ASI now down to 28,000 threshold.

“All sector indices closed in red led by the Financial services sector on massive sell-offs. We expect further moderation of the ASI to be diluted by value investors position for long term.”

Market breadth remained negative with 11 gainers against 30 losers.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals and Okomu Oil recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at 55k and N77, respectively.

AG Leventis & Company followed with a gain of 8.33 per cent, to close at 26k per share.

Africa Prudential appreciated by 7.91 per cent to close at N3.82, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services went up by 7.69 per cent to close at 28k, per share.

On the other hand, Chams and NEM Insurance led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, each to close at 36k and N2.25, respectively, while United Capital followed with a decline 9.38 per cent to close at N2.32, per share.

Goldlink Insurance declined by 8.70 per cent to close at 21k, while Jaiz Bank down by eight per cent, to close at 46k, per share.

NAN reports that volume of shares traded closed lower with an exchange of 214.68 billion units, valued at N2.78 billion, and exchanged in 3,856 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 235.23 million shares worth N1.36 billion traded in 3,130 deals on Friday.

UACN dominated trading activity with 41.29 million shares valued at N289.05 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 37.98 million shares worth N1.18 billion, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 15.96 million shares valued at N96.83 million.

Sterling Bank traded 13.03 million shares worth N34.5 million, Transcorp transacted 12.25 million shares valued at N14.19 million.

Credit: NAN