The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Wednesday took full responsibility for the errors that affected candidates’ performances in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The registrar of JAMB, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, who addressed the press in Abuja acknowledged widespread complaints over the 2025 UTME results, admitting that technical errors affected some candidates’ scores.
Oloyede, who fought back tears while speaking, announced that about 379,997 candidates would retake the test.
This followed widespread complaints of technical glitches, unusually low scores, and alleged irregularities in the examination.
The registrar said he took full responsibility for the negligence of its staff, adding that 65 centres in Lagos and 92 centres in Owerri Zone covering the five states in the southeast, would rewrite the exam.
He said all the candidates affected in the 157 centres out of 882 centres will be contacted to retake their examinations starting from Friday, May 16, 2025.
“These candidates are to be contacted through text messages addressed to their registered phone numbers, their email addresses, their profiles and phone calls by JAMB.
“They are directed to reprint their Examination Slips for the rescheduled examination dates.” Oloyede said.
He said the board’s authority investigated the complaints about the examination and “our review and investigation reveal that there are grounds for the complaints about the…UTME results.”
“Despite being able to identify the source of the problem and the affected centres, we are conscious of the painful damage it has inflicted on the reputation of JAMB.
“As registrar of JAMB, I hold myself personally responsible, including for the negligence of the service provider, and I unreservedly apologise for it and the trauma that it has subjected affected Nigerians to, directly and indirectly. Once again, we apologise and assure you that this incident represents a significant setback for the Board’s reputation.
“We remain committed to emerging stronger in our core values of transparency, fairness, and equity. It is our culture to admit error because we know that in spite of the best of our efforts, we are human, we are not perfect.
“The only consolation we have in this case is that it is just one of the two service providers that did not do well by uploading improperly but it was not a case of glitches nor sabotage,” he said.
Recall that out of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of a possible 400 marks.
JAMB revealed that 1,955,069 results were processed. Of this figure, only 4,756 candidates (0.24%) scored 320 and above, while 7,658 candidates (0.39%) scored between 300 and 319, bringing the total number of those who scored above 300 to just 12,414 candidates (0.63%).
In addition, 488,197 candidates (24.97%) scored between 140 and 159; 57,419 (2.94%) scored between 120 and 139, while 3,820 (0.20%) scored between 100 and 119. Only 2,031 candidates (0.10%) scored below 100.
