JAMB Finally Admits to Errors in 2025 UTME, Apologises to Candidates

• The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has admitted to errors in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination
• JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, admitted that the errors affected the performance of students during the 2025 UTME
• Oloyede, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, broke down in tears as he apologised for the errors and trauma caused to the candidates

Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 8 years of experience covering basic and tertiary education in Nigeria and worldwide

FCT, Abuja - The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has admitted to committing errors in the just concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Legit.ng reports that UTME is a computer-based standardised examination organised by JAMB for prospective undergraduates into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Recall that JAMB promised to commence the review of the 2025 UTME results and performance tomorrow, Thursday, May 15.

The examination board said the review was part of efforts to address public concerns about the recently released results.

JAMB defended the results, stating they aligned with historical performance trends, while the minister of education supported anti-malpractice efforts.

JAMB admits to errors in 2025 UTME

As reported by The Punch, the JAMB registrar of the Board, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, admitted to error during an ongoing press briefing in Abuja.

Oloyede admitted that errors affected the performance of candidates in the 2025 UTME.

“What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors.”

JAMB apologises to candidates for 2025 UTME errors

The JAMB boss broke down in tears as he apologised for the errors in the 2025 UTME.

“I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates.”

Nigerians react as JAMB admits 2025 UTME errors

@indulge_tweets

E don affect one oga pikin be that, cos the urgency to review....despite YoY accusations.

@ChiamakaNwaJohn

They should organize a resit for students who are willing to rewrite.

JAMB made the mess and this is the lease they could do.

@Spik_up

This is an embarrassment.

They have been sh@tty for a long time, they only admitted this year's own because it was obvious.

A nonchalant institution.

@Davidspredict

Time and effort of students wasted

@cameoses

I think it was pretty obvious after I watched 2 interviews of two exam writers. Just that, for Nigeria, things easily go backwards and people think it’s progress. They must rectify this and apologise to all those they pissed off. Very uncool!

JAMB results error: Educare tech team shares insights

Meanwhile, the Educare tech team has shared its findings after participating in a high-level session held at the JAMB headquarters in Abuja. The team headed by Engr James Nnanyelugo revealed that systemic upgrades intended to improve fairness and performance in the 2025 UTME were not uniformly deployed across all test centres.

While new features, such as source-based answer validation, randomised question delivery, and system optimisations, were fully implemented in the Kaduna (KAD) server cluster, the Lagos (LAG) cluster, servicing centres in Lagos and the southeast, ran on outdated server configurations.

“This operational gap impacted 157 centres and approximately 379,997 candidates,” the Educare Tech Team said, adding that the issue was traced to a human error during deployment, not a system failure or administrative manipulation.

Data gathered from over 18,000 candidates corroborated the findings, prompting JAMB to acknowledge the error and announce remedial action.

JAMB Registrar Oloyede, in a press briefing following the review, issued a formal apology and confirmed that all affected candidates would be allowed to retake the exam at no additional cost. The board also said it had reached an agreement with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to avoid clashes with ongoing SSCE exams.

Candidates are expected to reprint their examination slips by Friday, May 17, to confirm their revised schedules.

The Educare tech team emphasised that the incident highlighted the need for stronger deployment validation and real-time monitoring, urging JAMB to enhance its quality assurance frameworks moving forward.

JAMB: States with highest UTME malpractice cases

Meanwhile, JAMB disclosed that Anambra and Lagos recorded the most incidents of malpractice during the recently concluded 2025 UTME.

Speaking at a media briefing, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, revealed that 80 individuals have so far been apprehended for various exam-related offences across the country.

Anambra led the list with 14 suspects, closely followed by Lagos with nine.

JAMB invites man to review of 2025 UTME

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that JAMB formally invited an education stakeholder, the CEO of Educare, to a review of the 2025 UTME.

The invite comes days after the Educare boss championed the outcry of some parents and their wards who had low scores in the UTME.

The education stakeholder posted the letter he received from JAMB and promised to share his findings with the public.

Legit.ng's head of politics and current affairs desk, Nurudeen Lawal, contributed insights from the Educare tech team on the main reason for the UTME 2025 results error to this report.

Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng