Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Wednesday tearfully admitted that the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination was riddled with errors in light of the public outcry that has since greeted the results.
“I apologise for the trauma caused to the candidates,” Oloyede said tearfully at a presser in Abuja. “What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors.”
Oloyede vowed to right JAMB’s wrongs, noting that 379,997 candidates will resit the 2025 UTME across six states, including Lagos.
173,387 candidates in the Southeast states of Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Anambra will retake the exam, and 206,610 candidates in Lagos will do the same.
“It was a combination of human error and technology. We are sincerely sorry,” he said.
In Nigeria, passing the UTME is a crucial requirement for admission to tertiary institutions. Candidates are tested in four subjects—three of which are selected from their intended field of study—including the mandatory Use of English.
Breakdown of released 2025 UTME results
More than 1.5 million of the 1.9 million applicants who took the UTME are said to have received scores below 200 out of a possible 400, which has caused alarm in the education community.
Only 4,756 candidates (0.24 percent) scored 320 and above, which is considered top-tier performance, while 7,658 candidates (0.39 percent) scored between 300 and 319, making a total of 12,414 candidates (0.63 percent) who scored 300 and above, according to the examination body, which processed 1,955,069 results.
Additionally, 334,560 candidates (17.11 percent) scored between 200 and 249, while 73,441 candidates (3.76 percent) scored between 250 and 299 points.
983,187 applicants, or 50.29 percent, received scores in the range of 160 to 199, which is generally accepted as the minimal requirement for admission to many universities.
In the same way, 2,031 candidates (0.10 percent) scored below 100, 3,820 candidates (0.20 percent) scored between 100 and 119, 57,419 candidates (2.94 percent) scored between 120 and 139, and 488,197 candidates (24.97 percent) scored between 140 and 159.
Given that the exam is graded above 400, more than 75% of all applicants (1.5 million) received scores below 200.
A lawsuit against JAMB was threatened by a few impacted candidates.
JAMB to review 2025 UTME results on Thursday
JAMB had earlier announced that the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results will be reviewed on Thursday in response to what it called “unusual” public complaints.
Vice-chancellors, provosts, rectors, school principals, examiners, and technical experts would all be present at the review meeting to examine the examination procedure and address the general discontent among candidates and stakeholders, according to a notice obtained by the media on Monday.
This development follows a wave of protests from parents and candidates over the results that were made public last Friday. Many of them claimed that the exam had technical issues and was inconsistent.
As per the official announcement, the review panel will assess the conduct and results of the 2025 UTME. The panel will consist of representatives from the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, the Educational Assessment and Research Network, and senior officials from Nigeria’s higher education institutions.
“In furtherance of the commitment of the board to earn public confidence in its processes, the management of the board has approved your participation to be part of the review panel constituted to appraise the conduct of the examination with the mandate to identify challenges, if any, and proffer relevant recommendations to prevent a recurrence,” the notice reads in part.
JAMB concerned by the 2025 UTME result “unusual complaints”
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s spokesperson, responded to the controversy on Monday by stating that the board was speeding up its yearly post-examination system review, which normally evaluates the registration, examination, and result phases months after the exercise.
“We are particularly concerned about the unusual complaints originating from a few states within the federation,” Benjamin stated.
“We are currently scrutinising these complaints in detail to identify and rectify any potential technical issues.”
The statement claims that the board is carefully reviewing these complaints to find and address any possible technical problems.
The three main phases of the annual review are registration, examination, and result release, according to JAMB.
It clarified that JAMB makes sure all candidates have the chance to take the test, and in the event that there are any technical difficulties, the board reschedules the test for the impacted candidates.
According to JAMB, experts have been enlisted to help with the review.
JAMB’s earlier denial of 2025 UTME examination glitches
In response to the findings, JAMB Registrar Oloyede had initially stated that the 2025 UTME performance statistics were consistent with findings from the previous 12 years.
However, he emphasised that such outcomes are not out of the ordinary and are consistent with past trends.
“This is not peculiar to this year. The performance statistics are consistent with those of the last 12 years,” Oloyede said on May 8.
76 percent of candidates who took the UTME in 2024 received a score below 200.
JAMB reports that 1.3 million of the 1.7 million candidates who took the 2022 UTME, or 78 percent of the total, received a score of less than 200.
Of the 1.3 million candidates who took the 2021 UTME, only 803 (0.06.percent) received a score higher than 300.