A 15-year-old boy, Ekele Franklin from Imo, has emerged the overall best candidate in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted between April 11 and April 15.

Franklin, who made University of Lagos his first choice, scored 347 and may not be admitted because of his age.

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB), disclosed this at a news conference to announce the release of the results in Abuja on Saturday.

Emmanuel Chidebube, a 16-year-old boy from Abia came second with a score of 346, while Isaac Olamide, a 17-year-old from Osun came third with 345.

In all 2,906 candidates scored over 300 as against 4,683 in 2018.

According to Oloyede, 57,579 candidates scored between 250 and 299 as against 64,120 in the 2018 results.

Oloyede said 366,757 candidates also scored between 200 and 249, which is a significant improvement from the 2018 results.

“361,718 candidates scored between 180 and 199 as against 325,152 in 2018, while 494,484 scored between 160 and 179 as against 455,898 last year.

“410,844 candidates scored between 140 and 159 as against 346,825 recorded in 2018 while also 99,463 scored between 100 and 139 as against 64,712 in 2018.”