The House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to probe the technical error that led to the mass failure in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The decision followed the consideration and adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Osun State lawmaker, Hon. Adewale Adebayo.
A breakdown of the results released on 9 May 2025, showed that more than 78% of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum points obtainable in the examination.
This development led to public outcry, with some Nigerians calling for the resignation of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.
JAMB undertook an early review and uncovered a major ‘technical error’.
On Wednesday, Oloyede accepted responsibility during a press conference in Abuja, stating that the results of 379,997 candidates were affected.
He noted that the board discovered discrepancies linked to faulty server updates in its Lagos and south-east zones, which led to the failure to upload candidates’ responses during the first three days of the examination.
Oloyede said the problem, which was caused by one of the two technical service providers for the exercise, went undetected before the results were released.
He assured that the affected candidates will now have the opportunity to retake the examination between 16 May and 19 May, 2025.
The development has sparked mixed reactions, with Nigerians airing their views across social media platforms.
Moving the motion, Adebayo said many Nigerians have suffered losses while travelling long distances to their UTME examination centres.
In his contribution, the member representing Jibia/Kaita Federal Constituency, Katsina State, Hon. Sada Soli, urged the house to commend the JAMB registrar for admitting the technical error and apologising to Nigerians.
He said the JAMB boss has demonstrated ‘integrity’ and increased the board’s financial contribution to the federal purse since his appointment.
However, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas said that it would be up to the committee conducting the investigation to decide whether or not to commend the JAMB registrar.
The motion was unanimously adopted when it was subjected to a voice vote by Abbas.
Consequently, the house asked the federal government to establish CBT centres across all local government areas across the country.
