Navigating JAMB Glitch: Lessons for Officials and Students ahead of 2026 UTME

During a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), broke down in tears as he admitted to a technical glitch in the 2025 UTME results that affected candidates' performance and apologised for the trauma the error caused the affected students.

The JAMB boss' apology, applauded by some university dons and public commentators, confirmed the fears and outcry of some education stakeholders, secondary school teachers and many students that the initial Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results released on May 9 did not reflect the performance of candidates and needed revisiting.

JAMB 2025 glitch breakdown

According to JAMB, the glitch was a technical error and oversight that affected 157 out of 887 centres, primarily in Lagos and the South-East region. The error was connected to a service provider's failure to update some delivery servers.

Consequently, JAMB announced new dates for candidates in the affected South-East states and Lagos to retake the UTME within a very short timeframe, despite calls for an extension of the rescheduled dates to allow candidates and their parents to prepare.

After the retake, truly, the results of many candidates who wrote in Lagos and the South-East states came out better than the first results released.

However, some candidates were unlucky as they either performed poorly or missed their rescheduled exams entirely.

Good and bad 2025 UTME records set

A bad precedent was set in 2025, as this is the first time there has been a technical glitch that would affect the South-East states and Lagos since JAMB introduced the computer-based test (CBT) system in 2013.

This is not to ignore the fact that JAMB has a history of technical challenges and issues related to its CBT system, notably the result falsifying case of 2023 involving a candidate named Mmesoma Ejikeme.

It is also sad to note that a 19-year-old girl named Timilehin Faith Opesusi, who wrote the UTME in Lagos, took her life after scoring 190, which was below her 2024 UTME score.

On the bright side, this year's UTME produced the highest-scoring candidate for the first time since 2013, with a student, Okeke Chinedu Christian, getting an aggregate of 375 marks.

Alex Onyia, unsung hero of 2025 UTME

No doubt, the bittersweet 2025 UTME story would not be complete without a chapter or two dedicated to Alex Onyia, the chief executive officer of Educare.

The self-acclaimed Sultan of Software made the most of his X (formerly Twitter) handle to amplify the cries and stories of confident candidates who were affected by the technical glitch, even before the JAMB registrar tearfully admitted to its impact on the exam.

After JAMB released UTME results on May 9, Alex, who has over 54k followers on X, launched a social media campaign for days, calling on JAMB to review the exams and urging people to lend their voices for the affected candidates.

On May 11, Alex, passionate about Nigeria's education sector, announced on X that legal proceedings would commence at the Federal High Court on May 12, 2025, against JAMB.

At the time, he disclosed that more than 8,000 affected students had submitted formal complaints, seeking transparency in the marking process.

“Currently, we have 8,391 students who have sent in their complaints regarding the glitches in the JAMB 2025 exam,

"There is ample evidence proving that JAMB’s system was inefficient, thereby causing serious harm to these students’ mental health," he tweeted.

Alex's aggressive campaign caught the attention of JAMB, and he was eventually invited to a review panel for the 2025 UTME exams.

Alex stormed the meeting with his team, where it was later discovered that there were glitches that negatively impacted the performance of 379,000 students.

Lessons for students, others before JAMB 2026

As candidates, schools and the JAMB team look to the 2026 UTME, there are key takeaways from the controversial 2025 UTME that all and sundry must take into consideration.

It is only a mad fellow who does something the same way and expects a different result. JAMB has to restore the confidence of candidates and their parents, education stakeholders and all players in the sector by conducting a top-quality 2026 UTME.

Whatever led to the technical glitches that affected the results of only South-East states and Lagos should be dealt with in its entirety.

JAMB should leave no stone unturned in ensuring there is no repeat of such an error or a new one in that regard.

Apart from glitch concerns, JAMB should be empathetic in fixing the exam date and time, and also ensure a robust communication process for these to be communicated to the students.

This is because some students missed the dates of their rescheduled UTME as they weren't aware.

The role social media played in causing JAMB to review the exam cannot be downplayed. Even Alex's outcry might have been ignored or taken lightly were it not for social media.

His effort was helped by the numerous videos and posts that affected students, parents and education stakeholders made on TikTok, Facebook and X.

So, for the 2026 UTME, students, parents and stakeholders should endeavour to speak up or say something when they notice same. Finally, the importance of preparation for the exam cannot be overemphasised.

Only a student who prepared adequately would have the boldness to call out JAMB for a poor score, because such a candidate was sure of his or her performance and expected better.

Source: Legit.ng