The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is currently finalizing the assessment of results for the 379,775 candidates who participated in the rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with plans to release the results on Thursday, according to The PUNCH.
The review process is being handled by a team comprising JAMB officials, civil society representatives, academic professionals, and independent monitors. A reliable source, who preferred not to be named due to lack of clearance to speak officially, disclosed this to our correspondent shortly after a media briefing announcing the conclusion of the resit exercise.
Earlier this week, JAMB’s spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, had informed The PUNCH that the results would be made public on Wednesday. However, fresh checks on Wednesday revealed that an audit of the results was still ongoing, which led to a slight delay.
Meanwhile, JAMB on Wednesday confirmed plans to conduct another round of mop-up examinations. This upcoming test is meant for over 5.6 percent of candidates who, for various reasons, could not participate in the recently concluded UTME.
Providing clarity on the situation, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stated that the new mop-up would cover every absentee, irrespective of the reasons for their earlier absence.
“This time, we’re organizing another mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier exam without a valid reason will still get another chance,” he said. “This isn’t unusual. In any responsible system, if a student misses an exam, they are allowed a second opportunity—as long as it’s not abused.”
Prof. Oloyede emphasized that the UTME is designed as a selection process for limited university admission spaces and should not be mistaken for a measure of intelligence.
“It’s a ranking tool for limited admission spaces—not an IQ test,” he added.
Addressing public criticism and speculations surrounding the UTME conduct, Prof. Oloyede firmly dismissed suggestions of ethnic bias or administrative incompetence.
“I take responsibility, not because I failed, but because leadership demands accountability,” he declared. “I wasn’t even aware that people were interpreting issues through ethnic lenses. We must go beyond such sentiments.”
He went on to commend the resilience shown by candidates and JAMB personnel in handling the technical challenges that affected the exams.
“We were working with limited capacity. Dwelling too much on setbacks would have denied students their chance,” Oloyede remarked.
Although the specific date for the forthcoming mop-up exam is yet to be announced, JAMB reassured candidates and the public of its commitment to fairness and transparency throughout the process.
In a related development, a disagreement has emerged within the National Assembly, as South-West lawmakers dismissed calls from their South-East colleagues for the resignation of the JAMB Registrar.
The controversy stems from a major technical issue during the 2025 UTME, which prevented nearly 379,000 candidates from completing their exams, raising serious concerns about their higher education prospects.
Prof. Oloyede publicly acknowledged the incident and offered an emotional apology to the affected students and their families, while pledging to prevent future occurrences. Despite this, South-East legislators, through a statement issued by Iduma Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi), maintained their demand for Oloyede’s resignation, branding the episode a “catastrophic failure”.
They argued that a significant portion of the affected candidates were from the South-East and criticized JAMB over poor communication, clashing exam schedules with WAEC, and insufficient notice ahead of the resit.
“As representatives of the South-East, we are particularly concerned, as all five states in our region experienced severe score inconsistencies,” the caucus stated.
They further called for the suspension of JAMB officials responsible for digital infrastructure and logistical arrangements.
“While we commend Prof. Oloyede for acknowledging the board’s lapses, the corrective actions taken thus far fall far short of our constituents’ expectations,” they added.
On the other hand, prominent lawmakers from the South-West rallied behind the Registrar, describing the demand for his resignation as excessive.
Oluwole Oke, representing Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency and a five-term House member, told The PUNCH that Prof. Oloyede’s integrity was unquestionable.
“The call for his resignation is baseless. Prof. Oloyede is among the most transparent and honest public servants in Nigeria. As the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I’ve probed JAMB and can vouch for his integrity,” Oke said.
“Yes, something went wrong during his tenure, but he took full responsibility and apologized. What more should we expect?”
Similarly, Wale Raji, a lawmaker from Lagos, backed Oloyede and questioned the rationale behind the South-East caucus’s call for resignation, pointing out that Lagos students were also seriously affected.
“The incident was unfortunate, but Lagos was more affected than the South-East. Yet, the Registrar admitted the fault, apologized, and arranged a resit. That’s rare in Nigerian public service,” Raji said.
“Prof. Oloyede has set a leadership example for others. The South-East caucus’s demand is unreasonable and unacceptable.”
