Technical Glitch or Human Error? JAMB Registrar in Tears as UTME Woes Emerge
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has admitted that technical errors affected candidates’ performance in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
During a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, became visibly emotional as he apologised for the glitches that marred the exercise.
“Once again, we apologise and assure you that this incident represents a significant setback. We remain committed to upholding our core values of transparency, fairness and equity,” Oloyede said, wiping tears with a handkerchief.
He announced that 379,997 candidates would retake the exam after complaints of low scores, technical issues, and irregularities in exam content. JAMB later confirmed that a technical glitch had affected 157 of the 887 exam centres.
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“All affected candidates will be contacted to reprint their slips for the rescheduled exams starting 16 May 2025,” JAMB said in a post on its official X handle.
A performance breakdown showed that over 1.5 million out of 1.95 million candidates scored below 200. Only 0.63 percent (12,414 candidates) scored above 300.
The highest number of candidates—983,187 (50.29%)—scored between 160 and 199. Meanwhile, just 2,031 candidates (0.10%) scored below 100.
JAMB also disclosed that 40,247 underage candidates were allowed to sit the exam based on “exceptional abilities”, but only 467 (1.16%) met the required threshold.
In the 2024 UTME, just 0.4 percent scored above 300, while only 24 percent attained scores of 200 or more.
