The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has admitted that there were errors during the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that affected the performance of many candidates.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, made this known while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, May 14. He disclosed that the board has rescheduled a fresh UTME for 379,997 candidates in the five States of the South-East and Lagos State.
“What should have been a moment of joy has been marred by one or two errors,” Prof. Oloyede admitted.
Oloyede, who took responsibility for what he described as a “sabotage” of the 2025 UTME exercise, said the affected candidates will start getting text messages from the Board starting from Thursday, May 15, 2025.
“The affected candidates will start getting text messages for reschedule starting from tomorrow (Thursday). I apologise, I take full responsibility,” the JAMB Registrar stated.
He, however, did not clarify on the errors that were made.
The UTME is a mandatory examination for students seeking admission into tertiary institutions across Nigeria. It includes four subjects, with English Language as a compulsory component, and three others related to the candidate’s chosen course of study.
On May 5, the examination board released the results of the examination held across the country this year. According to the results released, more than 1.5 million out of 1.9 million candidates, representing about 79 per cent scored below 200. A breakdown of the results further revealed that the total number of candidates who scored 300 and above is 12,414, representing less than one per cent.
The outcome raised concern in the country, with the candidates and families taking to social media to call on JAMB to review the results. Some went as far as filing lawsuits against the examination board.
Two days ago, the board announced that it was investigating complaints regarding the results of the 2025 examination in order to identify and resolve any technical issues. The board said it has assembled a team of experts, including members of the Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria, Chief External Examiners (who are heads of tertiary institutions), the Educational Assessment and Research Network in Africa, measurement experts, and vice chancellors from across the country, to carry out a thorough review.
