The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has publicly apologised and taken full responsibility for technical errors that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which affected the performance of hundreds of thousands of candidates.
During a press conference held on Wednesday in Abuja, an emotional Oloyede announced that 379,997 candidates from Lagos State and the five South-East states will be required to retake the UTME, following lapses attributed to technical failures in the examination software.
According to the registrar, the problems arose from a flaw in JAMB’s “LAG” examination engine, which services centres in Lagos and the South-East. Specifically, the software update implemented after the mock examinations failed to shuffle answer options during live exams—a defect not initially detected in preliminary simulations and testing.
Professor Oloyede detailed how the issue was identified on the second day of the main UTME, Friday, April 25. JAMB subsequently initiated an emergency update and corrective grading measures, successfully resolving the glitch for all exams conducted from Tuesday, April 29, onwards.
However, an error occurred during the re-upload process when some delivery servers in affected centres were not properly patched by a service provider. As a result, students at 157 centres—65 in Lagos (206,610 candidates) and 92 in the South-East region (173,387 candidates)—received compromised test experiences.
“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 it has caused. This incident represents a significant setback for the Board’s reputation.”
He added that the Board's transparency and commitment to accountability guided the decision to publicly admit the error and take corrective steps.
“Despite our extensive testing and preparation, this unfortunate failure occurred. We are deeply sorry. Our only consolation is that the issue was limited to one of the two service providers and was not due to sabotage or a system-wide failure.”
Professor Oloyede appealed to affected candidates and the public to accept the explanation, stating:
“There are three powerful expressions—‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘I am sorry’. Today, I say ‘I am sorry’, not just in words but with full responsibility.”
JAMB announced that all affected candidates will be rescheduled to retake the UTME starting Friday, May 16, 2025. Candidates will be contacted via SMS, email, and phone calls to notify them of their new examination details. They have also been instructed to reprint their examination slips through the JAMB portal.
The Board emphasised its commitment to fairness and accuracy, noting that the rescheduled examinations are necessary to ensure affected candidates are not unjustly disadvantaged.
This development comes amid widespread concern over the poor performance recorded in the 2025 UTME. Out of approximately 1.9 million candidates, over 1.5 million scored below 200 marks out of 400—amounting to more than 70% falling short of the traditional benchmark.
The results have sparked outrage among stakeholders in the education sector, prompting scrutiny from parents, educators, civil society groups, and legal advocates.
A legal firm, John Nwobodo & Associates, representing over 1.5 million low-scoring candidates, has formally requested JAMB to release the questions and answers used in the examination. The firm cited suspicions of software malfunction or discrepancies in grading as contributing to the unprecedented failure rate.
In response, JAMB conducted a comprehensive post-examination review and committed to improved oversight of its technical service providers. Professor Oloyede reaffirmed the Board’s dedication to integrity and transparency in the conduct of national examinations.
“We remain committed to emerging stronger and more transparent. We will continue to uphold the values of fairness and equity in our processes,” he said.
As JAMB works to restore public confidence, the upcoming resit for nearly 380,000 candidates is seen as a critical step in remedying the situation and ensuring justice for those affected.
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