The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, broke down in tears on Wednesday as he apologised for errors that affected this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB announced that 379,997 candidates from Lagos and South-East Nigeria will retake the exam due to technical problems that occurred during their initial sitting.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Professor Oloyede said, “I hold myself personally responsible, including for the negligence of the service provider, and I unreservedly apologise for it and the trauma that it has subjected affected Nigerians to.”
He explained that a software update caused some of the questions and answers not to display properly in certain centres. The error mostly affected 65 centres in Lagos with 206,610 candidates and 92 centres in the South-East with 173,387 candidates.
Professor Oloyede said, “The technical personnel deployed by the service provider for Lagos and the South-East zones failed to update some of the delivery servers. Regrettably, this oversight went undetected before the release of the results.”
He added, “Once again, we apologise and assure you that this incident represents a significant setback for the Board’s reputation. We remain committed to transparency, fairness, and equity.”
Candidates affected by the issue will receive text messages and emails with details of their rescheduled exams, which will start on Friday, May 16, 2025. They are also advised to reprint their examination slips to confirm the new dates and centres.
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The registrar admitted that the board had made several tests before the exam, but still missed the issue.
“We are human, we are not perfect. It is our culture to admit error,” he said.
The announcement came after pressure from parents, education groups, and civil society organisations who criticised the poor performance in the 2025 UTME. Of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the exam, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of 400.
A law firm, John Nwobodo & Associates, had even demanded the release of the exam questions and answers, raising concerns about possible problems in JAMB’s software.
Despite the setback, Oloyede thanked Nigerians for their support. “For the inconveniences, once again, on behalf of JAMB, I say, I am sorry to all Nigerians,” he said.
The rescheduled exam gives thousands of affected students a second chance to prove themselves.