The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has today acknowledged significant technical errors that marred the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), leading to widespread concerns and confusion among candidates.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, offered a sincere apology to all affected candidates, taking full responsibility for the system malfunction. He announced that a total of 379,997 candidates will be given a second opportunity to sit for the examination.
According to Professor Oloyede, the issue originated from faulty server updates that disrupted the proper uploading of candidates� responses during the initial three days of the UTME. This critical glitch went undetected prior to the release of the results, subsequently causing widespread discrepancies, particularly in scores recorded at specific examination centres.
The affected candidates are predominantly located in Lagos State (206,610 candidates across 65 centres) and the South-East zone (173,387 candidates across 92 centres, including Imo, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, and Enugu). These candidates will now be required to retake the UTME between Friday, May 16, and Sunday, May 18, 2025.
Visibly emotional, Professor Oloyede appealed to the affected candidates, stating, “I appeal to the candidates and those affected by the error of our system to accept this explanation as the truth of the matter without embellishment. Please, I apologise and take full responsibility, not just in words.” He emphasized that the board had already initiated a thorough review of the results following a significant influx of complaints, especially from high-achieving students who received unexpectedly low scores.
JAMB has identified the root cause of the problem as an error within one of its two technical service providers. A software patch intended to shuffle answer options was not correctly implemented across all delivery servers. The fault, according to the press release, was specifically located within the LAG examination zone, which encompasses parts of the South-West, South-East, and regions of the North.
In a swift move to contain the issue, JAMB engaged independent psychometricians and computer scientists to conduct a comprehensive audit of its systems. These experts confirmed that the technical error was isolated to 157 centres out of a total of 882 centres nationwide.
Professor Oloyede also assured the public that JAMB is actively collaborating with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), which is currently overseeing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), to prevent any clashes in examination schedules. Candidates facing a timetable conflict, particularly on Friday during the Agricultural Science examination, will have their UTME re-sit rescheduled.
Affected candidates will be notified through various channels, including text messages, email, phone calls, and updates to their individual JAMB profiles. They are also required to reprint their examination slips to obtain the details of their rescheduled examination dates and times.
Concluding his address, Professor Oloyede reiterated JAMB’s commitment to transparency and pledged that robust corrective measures will be implemented to prevent the recurrence of such a significant error. The board aims to restore confidence in the integrity of the UTME process.
