The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially admitted that technical errors negatively impacted the performance of candidates in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), following widespread complaints of mass failure.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, acknowledged the issues on Wednesday, stating, "What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors." This admission comes after the board engaged IT experts to investigate anomalies in the examination results.

The 2025 UTME results have sparked nationwide concern with over 1.5 million candidates—representing more than 75% of the total 1.9 million examinees—scoring below 200 out of the possible 400 marks. Additionally, JAMB has withheld over 38,000 results due to alleged examination malpractice.

Breakdown of 2025 UTME Results

Of the 1,955,069 processed results, only 4,756 candidates (0.24%) achieved scores of 320 and above, while 7,658 candidates (0.39%) scored between 300 and 319. This brings the total number of candidates scoring 300 and above to just 12,414 (0.63%).

Further analysis shows 73,441 candidates (3.76%) scored between 250 and 299, while 334,560 candidates (17.11%) scored between 200 and 249. The majority—983,187 candidates (50.29%)—scored between 160 and 199, which is generally considered the minimum threshold for admission in many Nigerian tertiary institutions.

In the lower brackets, 488,197 candidates (24.97%) scored between 140 and 159, 57,419 candidates (2.94%) scored between 120 and 139, 3,820 candidates (0.20%) scored between 100 and 119, and 2,031 candidates (0.10%) scored below 100.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The poor performance has triggered intense public outcry across Nigeria. Reports indicate that a candidate allegedly committed suicide over poor UTME results, while others have threatened legal action against JAMB.

Critics, including an aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have called for Prof. Oloyede's resignation, while the Igbo sociocultural group Nzuko Umunna has urged JAMB to display results immediately after examinations to enhance transparency.

The board has not yet announced specific remedial measures to address the situation, but the admission of errors suggests possible review of the examination process might be forthcoming.