Some of the candidates who wrote the 2025 University Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have called for total cancelation of the results.
They spoke to Daily Trust yesterday in their reactions to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s admittance to errors that affected candidates’ performance in the examination.
There had been outcries in different quarters over the poor performance in the results, wherein over 1.5 million candidates failed to score 200. While many had cited technical glitches in some of the centres; others had blamed poor time management and students preparation.
JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, broke into tears as he apologised for the errors in the examination.
He said the unusual level of public concern and loud complaints on the results prompted the Board to do an immediate review of what happened, which ordinarily would have been done in June.
“I want to make it clear that our review and investigation reveal that there are grounds for the complaints about our 2025 UTME results and this press conference is convened with a view to unveiling the bitter truth of our findings openly and objectively,” he said.
According to him, “As part of our preparations for this year, we upgraded our system from form-based to the single item-based examination, the latter of which is the international standard now. We simulated this system, streamlined our Autobot and Autotest systems and still went ahead to develop our own JAMBTEST, a software innovated in-house by a small team led by own staff, Dubem.”
Oloyede revealed that the glitch was traced to a failure in the deployment of updated grading software by one of its service providers.
“The issue specifically impacted 65 centres in the Lagos zone affecting 206,610 candidates and 92 centres in Owerri zone, affecting over 173,387 candidates.
“I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates and I take full responsibility for this.”
The board said a total of 379,997 candidates in the five states of the South-East and Lagos were affected by the glitches in the examination.
“206,610 in 65 centres were affected in Lagos and 92 centres in Owerri zone comprising of 173,387 candidates in the five states of the South-east were affected.”
He highlighted the JAMB’s robust quality assurance systems, including mock examinations, technical simulations and deployment of oversight teams comprising university vice-chancellors, civil society representatives, software engineers and education experts.
Oloyede regretted that even the most stringent measures could not eliminate all risks.
He said: “This unfortunate incident represents significant self-harm to the integrity we’ve built over the years. But we remain committed to transparency, fairness, and equity. It is our culture to admit error and take responsibility.”
In response to public concern, he said the Board fast-tracked its typical post-exam audit, which was originally scheduled for June.
According to him, the Board convened emergency meetings with stakeholders, including educators, psychometricians, and student associations, to isolate the issue and chart a course for remediation.
“We apologise sincerely to the Nigerian students, parents, and schools affected. While this was not a case of sabotage, the oversight by one of our two service providers was inexcusable,” the registrar stated.
He explained that the affected candidates would be communicated through SMS by today so that they could reprint their slips for rescheduled examinations on Friday and Saturday.
The system failed us – Students
Aham Ijendu Chimereze, who wrote at Unique Computer Institution in Owerri, said he would be glad to retake the examination if the errors would not be repeated again.
Another candidate, Uchenna Eme, said: “I was scheduled to write my exam by 6am and the JAMB had to extend it to 4pm and still changed my centre same day of the exam.
“I have not checked my result to know if I did well or not after the story of poor performance broke out, but I don’t mind retaking as well.”
Another candidate, who gave her name as Jennifer, said during the examination, the electricity went off and the network failed.
Hassan Abdul, who took the exam in Lokoja, Kogi State, said it will be best if the entire results are cancelled, so that they all retake it.
The same views were shared by Mercy Obinna, from Anambra. She said no need to single out some centres. “The entire exercise should be cancelled and let all of us retake the exams”, she said.
But there are some students with contrary opinion.
For instance, a candidate from Lagos, Shoneye Neemah Darasimi, said, “When I first saw my result, honestly, I was so proud and relieved. All the late night and sacrifices finally paid off.
“Now hearing that some of the results were reversed, I am shocked, confused, and honestly heartbroken. It felt like the system failed us. How do you tell a child who had already started celebrating that his/her result might not be real?
“The reversal might affect my chances of gaining admission this year. In this country, timing matters. That result was our ticket to starting the process early. Now everything feels uncertain again like we’re starting from scratch.”
Falola Deborah Oluwatunmise, another candidate who sat for the UTME in Lagos said, “As you talked about this review now, my heart just skipped. Like you know, I wrote JAMB and I had technical glitches in my own, like 1 – 11 for me were just answers, no questions, it was only answers. I was just seeing only answers and my own exam questions stopped at 55 instead of 60.
“So, like, God forbid now I’m part of these people that they said we should retake this exam because we put in our best in the last one, and it’s just that people failed a lot.
“The exam went smoothly for me, I actually did my best and I’m okay with my result. But I’m kind of scared. What if they ask me to come back and write this exam again and God forbid, my score is not up to the one I got the last time? I’ll be so disappointed and I’ll really hate JAMB for it and myself too.
“I feel disappointed about the reversal of results and I just hope I’m not among those that will retake the exam.”
Errors caused emotional disturbance – Parents
A parent, Sydney Obi, said the errors in the result were a big issue as it caused a lot of emotional disturbance for candidates and their parents.
“But like the saying, no one is above mistake. I think JAMB should have done proper auditing before making official release after the first statistic they published generated a lot out outcry,” he said.
He advised the JAMB to test run any new technology before using it for the examination to avoid causing unnecessary headache for candidates.
Another parent, Funmilayo Lawrence said, “JAMB Registrar has done a good thing to have taken responsibility for the glitches in the UTME. If every office holder can do this, every sector will be better for it.
“We can’t outright blame the registrar, the service provider who did this may have compromised and we know that anything can happen in this country. The beauty of this is that those affected would be made to resit the exam, which for me is commendable.”
Another parent, Ogundipe Bosede Olaitan, said, “As a parent when I heard that the underage candidate results were not released, I was so sad because during the registration, we were not told that the result was not going to be released, what we were told was that if the students do not have or get up to 320, they are not going to give them admission. I am just appealing to the JAMB officials that they should please release the results of those underage candidates in order to know their performance.”
JAMB should get a new software – Don
Speaking to Daily Trust, a professor at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasiru Idris, said, “JAMB should ensure that the results come out immediately as that will go a long way in addressing some of the issues, but as far as you are giving one day, week or month it will be open to manipulation.
“So, I am of the opinion that JAMB should look for a software that will disclose result immediately after answering the last question.”
An educational expert, Oyarekhua Happiness said, “You can’t tell me JAMB will encourage failures. If they actually failed, it is understandable but giving them what they did not deserve makes it seem unjust, so the reversal is justified.
“Going forward, I think proper measures need to be put in place, they are definitely not new to this, they should channel more efforts and look for how to innovate and add more ideas in order to avoid such glitches. This is a national issue and they can’t keep going front and back on issues like this.
It’s a good step, hopefully the best will come out for it.”
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