Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is set to release the results of approximately 379,000 candidates who sat a rescheduled university entrance examination earlier this week. The results, from exams held between Friday and Monday, are expected to be made public on Wednesday.
The decision to re-run parts of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) followed a widespread outcry and significant public concern over a high rate of failures in the initial sitting. JAMB had admitted to “technical and human errors,” particularly in examination centres in Lagos and the South-East region of the country, which it acknowledged had significantly impacted candidates’ performance.
Widespread Concerns Over Initial Results
Out of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the initial UTME this year, more than 1.5 million scored below 200 marks out of a possible 400. This outcome sparked a national debate about the credibility and fairness of the testing process.
Following sustained pressure, JAMB investigated the mass failure and confirmed the presence of systemic errors. The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, last week publicly accepted responsibility for the issues, announcing a resit for the affected candidates.
JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, confirmed on Monday that the results for the rescheduled exams would be released on Wednesday. Professor Oloyede had previously disclosed that 379,997 candidates were affected by the glitches: 206,610 candidates across 65 centres in Lagos and 173,387 across 92 centres in the South-East. Describing the situation as “sabotage,” he said affected candidates began receiving notifications for the rescheduled exam last Thursday.
Of the original 1,955,069 UTME results processed, only a small fraction achieved high scores. Just 4,756 candidates (0.24%) scored 320 and above, with another 7,658 (0.39%) scoring between 300 and 319. This means only 12,414 candidates (0.63%) scored 300 or higher.
Conversely, a significant majority struggled. Over 75% of all candidates scored below 200 marks, with 983,187 candidates (50.29%) scoring between 160 and 199 – a range often considered the minimum threshold for admission to many institutions.
Calls for Resignation and Full Cancellation
The controversy has led to demands for accountability. On Monday, the South-East Caucus in Nigeria’s House of Representatives called for the immediate resignation of the JAMB Registrar, describing the situation as a “catastrophic institutional failure.”
The lawmakers criticised what they termed poor communication, the short notice given for the rescheduled UTME, and scheduling conflicts with ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). They argued that these issues had caused “unnecessary trauma” for students and their families.
The caucus highlighted Professor Oloyede’s admission of a “technical glitch” affecting nearly 380,000 candidates. “As a caucus, we are deeply concerned, as all five South-Eastern states we represent were directly affected by these so-called ‘score distortions’,” stated Iduma Igariwey, a legislator from Ebonyi State.
The lawmakers are demanding the immediate cancellation of the entire 2025 UTME and the scheduling of a fresh examination, preferably after the conclusion of the ongoing WAEC and NECO exams, to avoid disadvantaging any student. They also called for the suspension of key officials responsible for JAMB’s digital operations and logistics, stressing that accountability must extend beyond public apologies.
The caucus argued that JAMB’s “knee-jerk, fire-brigade approach” had been inadequate, particularly for students in the South-East who were given less than 48 hours’ notice for a resit that, in some cases, clashed directly with their ongoing WASSCE papers. They cited the constitutional right to equal and adequate educational opportunities, arguing that the flawed UTME had effectively denied this right to thousands of students across the South-East.
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