Chidimma Uchegbu
Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has admitted that error by the Board led to the mass failure in the recent UTME examination.
To fix the mistakes, Oloyede said that 379, 997 candidates in Lagos State and the South East Zone of the country will be made to retake the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
“In simple terms, while 65 centres (206,610 candidates) were affected in Lagos zone (comprising only Lagos state), 92 centres (173,387 candidates) were affected in Owerri zone, which includes the South East states.
“In clear terms, in the process of rectifying the issue, the technical personnel deployed by the Service Provider for LAG (Lagos and South-East zones) inadvertently failed to update some of the delivery servers. Regrettably, this oversight went undetected prior to the release of the results”, he said.
The JAMB Registrar recalled that on Monday, May 12, 2025, the Board issued a tentative press statement which includes “… If it is determined that there were indeed glitches, we will implement appropriate remedial measures promptly, as we do in the case of the examinations themselves.”
He said apart from officials of JAMB and other Government agencies, such as, Nigeria Education and Research Development Council (NERDC), they also summoned some experts and professionals including a renowned professor of psychometrics and esteemed expert in Test and Measurement, who is from Imo state, Prof. Boniface Nworgu; a technical advisor and expert from the Computer Professionals Council of Nigeria (CPN), Prof. Adenike Osofisan; a CPN Representative, Mr Bayo Onimode; the President of the Nigerian Academy of Education, Prof. Kabiru Isyaku; the National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria, the National Association of Nigerian Students, among others.
“Within 24 hours of rigorous work, we were able to isolate where the problem emanated from. It happened in 65 centres in Lagos and 92 centres in Owerri zone. In these centres, the patch was not properly applied in some centre servers by the service provider and that failure disrupted the upload of the candidates’ responses within the first three or four days, as applicable to Lagos and Owerri zones.
“The 2025 UTME that could have been our finest yet, were it not for the carelessness, negligence, and lack of concern exhibited by the agents entrusted with this crucial yet straightforward function”, he lamented.
Oloyede disclosed that immediately they realised this, they summoned the Chief External Examiners of Lagos, Imo, Anambra, Oyo, Abia and Ebonyi, the six states affected.
“We also invited Prof. Bashir Galadanchi, a leading expert in Computer Science; the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPSS), which was represented by a leading voice in public advocacy, Dr. (Mrs) Bukola Dosumu. A number of our vocal critics were also invited to the interaction such that we could jointly and sincerely examine the situation”, Oloyede said.
He further stated that, “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.
“We have decided that 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”.
