UNILAG, UNIMAID students, others win N35m JAMB-Rite awards

Seven Nigerian undergraduate students have been honored with top prizes totaling N35 million at the inaugural Rite Foods National Academic Excellence Awards. The ceremony, held in Lagos, celebrated outstanding matriculating students from across the nation's six geopolitical zones, recognizing their academic achievements.

The awards, a partnership between Rite Foods and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), assessed students based on their performance in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), and institutional screening exercises. Students pursuing Medicine and Surgery, Software Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering were among the top recipients.

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Be innovators, researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs needed to solve the problems of the nation.

Each of the seven awardees received a N5 million cheque. The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, represented by his aide Dr. Ismaila Adiatu, urged the students to remain focused and committed to excellence, encouraging them to become innovators and entrepreneurs who can solve national problems. He emphasized the government's commitment to an education system that rewards merit and produces globally competitive graduates.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, commended Rite Foods for their comprehensive selection process, which considered candidates' overall admission performance beyond just UTME scores. He highlighted the unique aspect of celebrating matriculated students, noting that many with high UTME scores are not admitted due to incomplete result combinations.

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What is unique about Rite Foods’ initiative is that they are celebrating matriculated students. Many people with high UTME scores are never admitted because they do not have the required combination of UTME and SSCE results.