JAMB Registrar Apologises In Tears For Exam Errors, Takes Full Responsibility; Over 370,000 Candidates To Retake Exam
Oloyede revealed that affected candidates will be sent messages with details of the examination rescheduled for this weekend.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that a total of 379,997 candidates in Lagos and the five South-East states will be rescheduled for another sitting of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, acknowledging that errors during the initial examination negatively affected the performance of some candidates.
Oloyede revealed that affected candidates will be sent messages with details of the examination rescheduled for this weekend.
candidates affected in the 157 centres out of 882 centres will be contacted to retake their examinations starting from Friday, May 16, 2025,” he said.
“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.”
Of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of a maximum of 400, raising concerns across Nigeria’s education sector.
JAMB, according to Oloyede, conducted a comprehensive review of the conduct and outcomes of the exam on Thursday.
The decision followed mounting pressure from education stakeholders, parents, and civil society groups who have condemned the dismal performance of candidates in this year’s examination.
SaharaReporters had reported that JAMB received a formal request from a law firm, John Nwobodo & Associates, demanding the release of the 2025 UTME questions and answers for over 1.5 million candidates who scored below 200.
This followed concerns over the examination’s unprecedented failure rate, which saw more than 70% of candidates scoring under the pass mark of 200.
The law firm, which said it was representing the 1,534,654 candidates, raised the alarm about potential discrepancies in the results, suggesting a possible malfunction in JAMB’s software.
