The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has admitted that errors pervaded the released results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede shed tears as he apologised for the errors in the examination on Wednesday during a briefing in Abuja.
“I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates,” he said.
“What should have been a moment of joy has been marred by one or two errors,” Prof. Oloyede admitted.
Oloyede claimed there had been a “sabotage” of the 2025 UTME exercise.
He announced that the affected candidates would start getting text messages from the Board starting from Thursday, May 15, 2025.
“The affected candidates will start getting text messages for reschedule starting from tomorrow (Thursday). I apologise, I take full responsibility,” the JAMB Registrar stated.
According to JAMB, a total of 379,997 candidates in the five states of the South East geographical zone and Lagos were affected by the glitches in the results.
“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 South East were affected,” it said.
Eyebrows had been raised when JAMB reported that of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the UTME, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks.
According to the agency, a total of 1,955,069 results were processed, out of which only 4,756 candidates (0.24 per cent) scored 320 and above, considered top-tier performance.
It said 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).
Also, according to JAMB’s initial report, 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.
Over 75 per cent of all candidates (1.5 million) scored below 200, average score seeing as the examination is graded over 400.
