JAMB Admits 2025 UTME Error, Reschedules Exams for 387,997 Candidates
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially admitted to a technical error that affected the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), prompting it to reschedule exams for 387,997 candidates across the country.
At a press briefing held on Wednesday in Abuja, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, explained that faulty server updates in the Lagos and Owerri zones caused candidate responses from the first three days of the UTME to be lost. The issue, he said, went undetected until after the results were released.
“The error originated from one of our technical service providers, whose personnel failed to properly update some of the delivery servers in the affected areas,” Oloyede said. “I take full responsibility for this and sincerely apologise to all affected candidates.”
A total of 65 centres in Lagos (with 206,610 candidates) and 92 centres in the Owerri zone (with 173,387 candidates) were impacted, bringing the total to 387,997.
To correct the issue, JAMB has scheduled a new round of UTME exams for the affected candidates beginning Friday, May 16. Those concerned will be notified through SMS, email, and phone calls, and are advised to reprint their examination slips to confirm new exam dates and venues.
Prof. Oloyede also assured the public that JAMB is working with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to avoid any clash with the ongoing WASSCE examinations.
The original 2025 UTME results were released on May 9, sparking concern after it was revealed that more than 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 marks. This led to widespread protests and demands for an investigation into the integrity of the exams.
Oloyede explained that part of the problem stemmed from the introduction of shuffled answer options in this year’s UTME—an initiative meant to curb cheating. However, a critical software update intended for this change was not correctly applied on all servers.
To address the crisis, JAMB conducted an internal review and brought in external experts—including psychometricians and IT specialists—to audit the system. Their findings confirmed that the issue was isolated to the identified 157 centres.
“We remain committed to ensuring a fair and credible examination process,” the registrar said. “This setback is regrettable, but we are taking decisive action to make things right.”
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