*379,997 Candidates In Southeast, Lagos To Retake Exam From May 16
*Candidate Takes Own Life Over Low Score
*UNN-ASUU Threatens Suit Over Mass Failure In Zone
THE Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has admitted to errors in the just released 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede, who broke into tears as he apologised for the errors in the examination on Wednesday, May 14, during a briefing in Abuja, stated: “I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates.”
The Board said a total of 379,997 candidates in the five states of the Southeast and Lagos were affected by the glitches in the results and will have to retake the examination, adding: “206,610 in 65 centres were affected in Lagos and 92 centres in Owerri zone, comprising of 173,387 candidates in the five states of the Southeast were affected.”
Of the 1.9 million candidates that sat for the examination, over 1.5 million reportedly scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks, raising concerns across the country.
He disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates were affected, saying the Board discovered discrepancies linked to faulty server updates in its Lagos and Owerri zones, which led to the failure to upload candidates’ responses during the first three days of the examination.
Oloyede said the problem, which was caused by one of the two technical service providers for the exercise, went undetected before the results were released.
He explained that 65 centres in Lagos (206,610 candidates) and 92 centres in Owerri zone (173,387 candidates) were affected, bringing the total number of impacted candidates to 379,997.
To address the issue, JAMB said it will conduct a rescheduled UTME for all affected candidates starting Friday, May 16, noting that affected candidates will be notified via SMS, email and phone calls, and are advised to reprint their examination slips for details on the rescheduled tests.
Oloyede said JAMB has engaged with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to ensure that the rescheduled UTME does not clash with ongoing WASSCE examinations, adding: “As registrar of JAMB, I hold myself personally responsible, including for the negligence of the service provider. I unreservedly apologise for it.”
He stated that following mock examinations and system updates, the Board insisted on implementing shuffled answer options in the UTME, and despite layers of testing, an oversight occurred during grading updates for the LAG examination zone, which includes the Southwest, Southeast and parts of the north.
This, he stated, led to the deployment of a software patch, which was not properly applied in some delivery servers in the affected zones.
“The technical personnel deployed by the service provider for LAG inadvertently failed to update some of the delivery servers.
“Regrettably, this oversight went undetected before the release of the results.”
Oloyede said JAMB fast-tracked its usual post-examination review in response to public outcry and brought in independent experts, including top psychometricians and computer scientists, to audit the system.
A detailed sampling across all states, he disclosed, has shown no abnormalities outside the identified centres.
Indeed, the truama is unbearable for some candidates, as 19-year-old Timilehin Faith Opesusi committed suicide after score low grade in the examination.
According to The Guardian report, Opesusi took rodent poison on Monday, May 12, after scoring 190.
Opesusi, who hailed from Abeokuta, but resided in Odogunyan in Ikorodu area of Lagos State, it was gathered, applied to study Microbiology and had also taken the examination last year, scoring higher than this year.
When she discovered her low grade, Opesusi reportedly “asked for palm oil at her sister’s office to relieve the pain caused by something she had ingested at home.
“Recognising the severity of the situation, her sister raised the alarm, attracting sympathisers to the scene.
“On the way to the hospital, Opesusi reportedly confessed to taking poison before proceeding to her sister’s office.
“Tragically, she passed away at Kolak Hospital in Odogunyan, Ikorodu.
“In a shocking twist, just 30 minutes after her death, Opesusi received a provisional admission notification via her Gmail account,” the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to sue JAMB over the mass failure.
Its Chairman, Óyibo Eze, told journalists in Nsukka on Wednesday, May 14, that the mass failure, which affected mostly candidates from the Southeast, was a deliberate attempt by JAMB to stop children from the zone from getting admission.
He stated: “My office has been inundated with protests, calls and visits by parents and the general public on this deliberate massive failure in the 2025 JAMB examination.
“ASUU will challenge this result in High Court if JAMB fails to review the result and give candidates their merited scores.
“JAMB knows that children from the Southeast must score higher before they can get admission, whereas their counterparts in some parts of the country will use 120 JAMB score to get admission to read Medicine in universities in their area.
“In the JAMB recently released result, out of 1,955,069 candidates who sat for the 2025 examination, over 1.5 million candidates scored less than 200 and the majority of these are from the Southeast and Lagos State.”
He called on governors from the zone to rise up and challenge what he termed injustice aimed at preventing children from the zone from gaining admission into higher institutions in the country.
Eze stated: “The governors in the zone should not sit and watch JAMB toy with academic future of our children.
“I am not against the Board punishing those found guilty of exam malpractice, but JAMB should not, because of these few candidates, fail the whole candidates in an exam centre.”
He said it was unbelievable and unacceptable that in the whole University Secondary School, Nsukka, no candidate who sat for the examination scored up to 200 in the UTME, noting: “This school has superlative students who have excelled in academics both inside and outside the school, how come all of them scored less than 200 in the exam.
“Even if JAMB discovered one or two candidates for exam malpractice, is that enough reason to fail all others who have prepared very hard for that exam?”
He advised JAMB to act fast and do the needful by reviewing the result, warning that the situation has become a national issue that could attract national protest if nothing urgent was done.
