The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it
will allow a resit for candidates who initially missed the 2025 Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of JAMB, met with chief external
examiners, civil society organisations, and tertiary institution stakeholders
on Wednesday in Abuja.
During the 2025 UTME in April, candidates had complained of
being unable to sit for the exam due to being posted to far-flung centres.
The results from JAMB’s 2025 UTME were released on May 9
after the exam ended on May 5.
A breakdown showed that more than 78 per cent of candidates
scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum points obtainable.
This spurred protests that questioned the overall integrity
of the examination process.
JAMB undertook an early review and uncovered a major
“technical error”.
Oloyede said the results of 379,997 candidates across 157
centres in its Lagos and south-east zones were affected.
JAMB conducted a resit examination, starting from May 16 and
extending beyond May 19.
At JAMB’s office in Abuja, Oloyede said about 95 per cent of
those marked for the resit UTME in Lagos and the south-east participated.
To accommodate the estimated 5.6 per cent of candidates who
missed it, he said JAMB is organising a special mop-up exercise.
Oloyede also said all candidates who missed the examination
initially would be allowed to retake it, regardless of their reason for
absence.
“Normally, we hold one mop-up nationwide for those with one
issue or another. This time, we are creating a new mop-up. Even those who
missed the earlier exam due to absence we will extend this opportunity to
them,” the registrar said.
During his May 14 conference, Oloyede attributed the 2025
UTME technical error to faulty server updates that led to the failure to upload
candidate responses during the first three days of the examination.
Oloyede said the problem, which was caused by one of its
technical service providers, went undetected before the results were released.
On May 15, the house of representatives resolved to probe
the examination body over the technical error.
On April 19, the south-east caucus in the house of
representatives demanded the resignation of the JAMB registrar.
The lawmakers also called for the cancellation of the 2025
UTME for a fresh examination to be conducted.
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