By Peter Omopo
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has confirmed that technical errors affected the scores of some candidates in the recently released 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday at JAMB headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, Oloyede acknowledged the public outcry that followed the release of the results on May 9, noting that the concerns prompted an immediate audit of the UTME process.
He described the situation as “an easily avoidable error” that cast a shadow over what had otherwise been considered one of the board’s most successful examination exercises. “Despite all our quality assurance measures and simulations, we experienced a technical lapse. It is a classical case of ‘man proposes, God disposes’,” Oloyede said.
According to the JAMB boss, the error occurred during the deployment of examination questions in the LAG operational zone, which includes South-West and South-East states. A software update intended to shuffle answer options failed to fully implement, leading to inconsistencies in grading. While the issue was detected and corrected by Tuesday, April 29, results for candidates who wrote before that date were impacted.
Oloyede revealed that approximately 206,610 candidates in Lagos State and 173,387 in the South-East zone were affected. He explained that the service provider responsible for grading in the affected zones failed to correctly update all servers, resulting in patch errors that were not detected before the results were released.
The registrar reaffirmed JAMB’s commitment to high-quality standards and transparency, highlighting the robust quality assurance mechanisms in place, including external monitors, technical advisers, and mock examinations. He also detailed the board’s investment in software innovation and staff training, which he said made the glitch particularly disappointing.
“JAMB is not just a government agency; it is a national trust. We deeply regret the unintended consequences of this error,” Oloyede stated, adding that efforts are underway to rectify the issue and ensure that affected candidates receive accurate results.
He concluded by thanking critics and stakeholders for their vigilance, saying their concern was a sign of public engagement and accountability, not hostility.
