The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has enlisted leading IT professionals and educational assessment experts to investigate reports of technical issues that allegedly affected the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Concerns about system failures surfaced after the release of this year’s results, which showed that over 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates scored below 200 out of 400. In interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday, several candidates attributed the mass failure to technical glitches experienced during the exam.
Education advocate and CEO of Educare, Alex Onyia, revealed that thousands of affected candidates are preparing to take legal action against JAMB. In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @winexv, Onyia stated, “Currently, we have 8,391 students who have sent in their complaints regarding the glitches in the JAMB 2025 exam. There is ample evidence to prove that JAMB’s system was inefficient, thereby causing serious harm to these students’ mental health.”
He added that the students are demanding transparency, including access to their full mark sheets, correct answers, and a reliable mechanism for disputing results. “The destinies of these students are at stake,” Onyia said.
In response, JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, confirmed on Monday that a thorough post-examination review was underway. He noted that the board had brought in experts from the Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria, vice chancellors, educational measurement specialists, and members of the Educational Assessment and Research Network in Africa.
“This is part of our system-wide audit to address any unusual complaints, especially those coming from a few states,” Benjamin said. He added that should the investigation uncover genuine glitches, JAMB would implement corrective actions, including re-evaluation or rescheduling of exams where necessary.
While JAMB acknowledged the concerns raised, the board maintained that the complaints were localized and not widespread. Nonetheless, it reiterated its commitment to fairness and assured all candidates that valid concerns would be promptly addressed.
JAMB also reminded the public that candidates who experienced confirmed technical difficulties during the exam are typically offered another opportunity to write the test under fair and secure conditions.
