The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the rescheduling of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 379,997 candidates across Lagos and five South-East states affected by technical issues.
Oloyede, during a news conference in Bwari on Wednesday, took responsibility of the errors in the just concluded examinations.
He assured that the 379,997 affected candidates would be communicated through Short Message Service (SMS) by Thursday, so that they could reprint their slips for rescheduled examinations on Friday and Saturday.
Oloyede revealed that the glitches, which caused widespread outrage and confusion among candidates and stakeholders, were traced to a failure in the deployment of updated grading software by one of JAMB’s service providers.
“The issue specifically impacted 65 centres in the Lagos Zone affecting 206,610 candidates and 92 centres in Owerri Zone, affecting over 173,387 candidates.
“I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates and I take full responsibility for this,” he said.
Recalls that of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the UTME, over 1.5 million reportedly scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks.
The Board had said that a total of 1,955,069 results were processed, out of which only 4,756 candidates (0.24 per cent) scored 320 and above.
Also, 7,658 candidates (0.39 per cent) scored between 300 and 319, bringing the total for those who scored 300 and above to 12,414 candidates (0.63 per cent).
73,441 candidates (3.76 per cent) scored between 250 and 299 while 334,560 candidates (17.11 per cent) scored between 200 and 249.
A total of 983,187 candidates (50.29 per cent) scored between 160 and 199, which is widely regarded as the minimum threshold for admissions in many institutions.
In the same vein, 488,197 candidates (24.97 per cent) scored between 140 and 159, 57,419 candidates (2.94 per cent), scored between 120 and 139, 3,820 candidates (0.20 per cent) scored between 100 and 119, and 2,031 candidates (0.10 per cent) scored below 100.
Oloyede admitted that one or two errors were made during the 2025 UTME after the investigations carried out.
The Registrar also highlighted JAMB’s robust quality assurance systems, which include mock exams, technical simulations, and deployment of oversight teams comprising university vice-chancellors, civil society representatives, software engineers, and education experts.
However, he acknowledged that even the most stringent measures cannot eliminate all risks.
“This unfortunate incident represents significant self-harm to the integrity we’ve built over the years.
“But we remain committed to transparency, fairness, and equity. It is our culture to admit error and take responsibility.”
Adejayan Gbenga
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