A brilliant 16-year-old Nigerian student, Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin, has emerged as the overall highest scorer in the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), recording an outstanding 372 out of 400.
The announcement was made during the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions to Tertiary Institutions held in Abuja, where the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) officially unveiled the list of top-performing candidates.
Daniella, an indigene of Ekiti State who wrote the examination in Ogun State, is seeking admission to study Medicine and Surgery at the University of Lagos.
Breakdown of Her Scores:
English Language: 98
Chemistry: 98
Physics: 94
Biology: 82
Speaking on her remarkable success, Daniella disclosed that this was her second time sitting for the UTME.
According to her, she first took the examination in 2025 after graduating from secondary school but was unable to secure admission due to technical glitches at her examination centre, which negatively affected her performance.
“This isn’t my first UTME. I graduated from secondary school last year, so I sat for the UTME last year. I couldn’t gain admission due to the glitches I experienced in my exam centre, which affected my result.”
She explained that her preparation for the 2026 examination began during her previous UTME preparation and credited her school, EFVP Wisdom Spring Model School, for its role in her achievement.
Daniella also shared that she intentionally set an ambitious goal for herself.
“I was aiming for nothing less than 350, so I fixed my goal at 370+.”
Other Top Scorers:
Enwere Kingsley Ikenna (Imo State) — 370
Sat in Lagos State
Applied to study Computer Science at Nile University
Bamisile Ayomide Emmanuel (Ondo State) — 369
Applied to study Software Engineering at the Federal University of Technology Akure
Several other candidates also scored between 367 and 368, highlighting the exceptional performance recorded in the 2026 UTME.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
