MIXED reactions are trailing the release of 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)
The ICIR reported that 78.5 per cent of candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME scored below 200, according to JAMB.
Data by the organisation show that of the total 1,955,069 registered candidates, 1,534,654 scored below 200, the score often used as a benchmark for admission into competitive programmes in most Nigerian federal universities.
The JAMB announced that it withheld the results of 39,834 candidates of the over 1.9 million applicants in the 2025 exam.
The Board also revealed that 80 candidates nationwide were under interrogation for examination fraud, with Anambra State leading the pack with 14 candidates.
The JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, revealed this on Friday, May 9, while officially releasing the 2025 UTME.
He also disclosed that while 41,000 underage candidates registered for the exercise, 467 met the prescribed minimum score, adding that 50 were engaged in cheating scandals.
He explained that out of 2,030,862 candidates that registered for the examination, 1,911,551 results were released, 71,705 were absent, and 2,157 fingerprints were rejected.
However, some Nigerians have alleged that there are irregularities in the results released by the examination body.
On May 9, a Nigerian with the account @Timmieexx on X, formerly Twitter, publicly challenged JAMB. She claimed that her brother’s exam result appeared inconsistent and urged the examination body to review it.
“Dear @JAMBHQ, my brother’s JAMB result just came out, and it’s not adding up. This is someone with a consistent record of academic excellence. We can’t accept this result. Too much effort and sleepless nights went into the preparation. This is so unfair. Please REVIEW IT!!!!!” her post read.
@Chukumapius, who identified as a retired teacher, tagged JAMB to express his concern that the result his daughter obtained didn’t reflect her hard work or match the score she achieved last year.
“@JAMBHQ @channelstv @ARISEtv @PeterObi Please, there is a serious technical error with JAMB this year. As a retired teacher, the result JAMB sent to my daughter this morning is not her result. This is devastating. Hard work rewarded this way? Compare her last year 2025,” the post read.
Another user, Kemakillz, also took to the platform that same day to voice frustration with the Nigerian education system.
“How would someone score 309 in JAMB last year and not be offered admission??!!! This year, he got 163. Nigeria’s educational system…tueeh!” The post read.
@jace_Normany alleged that the results released were not his and called on JAMB to take action.
The post read, “We deserve better! Some of us prepared so hard! Some of us are rewriting! Some of us had high mock scores!… This is not our result! JAMB should do something about this, please. We deserve better.”
In a series of viral videos on Facebook and TikTok, several users are seen in tears, questioning JAMB over discrepancies in their UTME results and demanding clarity.
CRS Teens Finest is in tears, questioning what went wrong with her result and insisting that she studied hard for the examination.
Other social media users have expressed satisfaction with the scores of their loved ones, celebrating their success and lauding their hard work.
@thatboyropa posted, “My cousin just did the impossible, he scored 360 in JAMB. I think this is the highest I’ve seen so far, and the highest in our family’s history”
@Divayetty wrote, “This was me today, my youngest sister scored 259 in JAMB. I quickly sent her money and told her how much I’m proud of her. I’ll still buy more things for her”.
The ICIR reported that Nigerians faulted the exam body over the missing report of a candidate who was to write her exams at a centre far from her hometown.
The candidate was reported to have gone missing on her way from the Epe area of Lagos to Ajah to write the 2025 UTME.
The candidate was reported to have gone missing on her way from the Epe area of Lagos to Ajah to write the 2025 UTME.
The incident, including students scheduled for exams at 6:30 am, led to public outcry.
Several reports highlighted instances where students were either made to wait for hours without being able to write their exams or had to travel unexpectedly to distant locations due to last-minute changes in their exam centres.
Other candidates reported system shutdowns mid-exam, missing questions, and CBT interface errors.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.