THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the rescheduling of 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for candidates affected by technical glitches in the recent UTME exam.
The rescheduled examination will take place on Friday May 16, Saturday May 17, and Sunday May 18, at designated centres across Lagos and the South East.
JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, stated during a press briefing in Abuja, on Wednesday, May 14, that the decision was reached after identifying significant errors in the initial exam process.
According to Oloyede, the affected centres include 65 in Lagos and 92 in the Owerri zone, comprising five states of the South East.
Oloyede assured that candidates whose timetables clash with other commitments would be accommodated accordingly.
Background
The decision to reschedule the exam followed widespread protests from candidates and parents after the release of the 2025 UTME results.
According to JAMB, 78.5 per cent of candidates scored below 200, a commonly used benchmark for admission into competitive federal university programmes in Nigeria.
Out of the 1,955,069 registered candidates, 1,534,654 scored below 200, while 39,834 results were withheld for reasons ranging from examination malpractice to technical faults.
During the press briefing, Oloyede apologised for the trauma caused, admitting to “one or two errors” during the administration of the exams.
“I apologise for the trauma caused the candidates,” Oloyede was quoted to have said.
“What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors,” he added.
He admitted that the mass failure resulted from a systemic error that affected the grading process.
“So, I appeal to the candidates and those affected by the error of our system to accept this explanation as the truth of the matter without embellishment, Please. I apologise and take full responsibility, not just in words,” he was quoted to have said.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M