Education
Breaking News: JAMB Registrar, Oloyede, Wallows In Tears, Apologises To Nigerians For UTME Errors
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has recognized a technical fault that affected the validity of the results from the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) held at 157 centres nationwide.
Ishaq Oloyede, the registrar of JAMB, stated during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday that the results of more than 387,000 candidates were impacted.
He mentioned that the discrepancies were connected to faulty server updates in the Lagos and Owerri regions, which failed to upload candidates’ answers during the first three days of the examination.
Oloyede explained that the issue, caused by one of the two technical service providers involved, went unnoticed prior to the release of the results on May 9.
He reported that 65 centres in Lagos (involving 206,610 candidates) and 92 centres in the Owerri zone (affecting 173,387 candidates) were impacted, summing up to a total of 387,997 affected candidates.
JAMB announced that a rescheduled UTME will be held for all affected candidates starting Friday, May 16, to remedy the situation.
The board indicated that notifications will be sent to impacted candidates via SMS, email, and phone calls, and they are encouraged to reprint their examination slips for information regarding the new test dates.
Oloyede added that JAMB has collaborated with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to ensure no scheduling conflicts with ongoing WASSCE examinations.
“As registrar of JAMB, I take full responsibility, including for the oversight of the service provider, and I sincerely apologize for it,” Oloyede stated.
The results from JAMB’s 2025 UTME, released on May 7, showed that over 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 points obtainable.
This situation has led to concerns and prompted protests questioning the overall trustworthiness of the examination process.
Oloyede mentioned that after conducting mock examinations and updating systems, the board insisted on using shuffled answer options in the UTME.
