The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that 173,387 candidates who participated in the recently concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will have to retake the examination following admitted errors in the process.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this announcement during an emotional press conference held in Abuja on Wednesday. The visibly distressed Registrar broke down in tears several times during the briefing, repeatedly wiping his face with a handkerchief as he addressed the issues.

"What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors," Oloyede stated, taking full responsibility for what he described as negligence by JAMB staff.

The decision comes after JAMB received an unusually high volume of complaints regarding discrepancies in candidates' scores, technical glitches, and alleged irregularities in the examination process.

According to the Registrar, the rewrite will affect candidates from 65 centres in Lagos and 92 centres in the Owerri Zone, which covers the five states in the South East region of Nigeria.

The announcement has sparked various reactions across the country. In a related development, a spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar suggested that the Registrar's tears "would make sense" if accompanied by his resignation.

This development marks a significant setback for JAMB, which has in recent years worked to improve the credibility and efficiency of the UTME process. The board has not yet announced the dates for the rescheduled examinations, but affected candidates are advised to stay updated through official JAMB channels.

The UTME is a standardized examination for prospective undergraduates in Nigeria, serving as a key determinant for university admissions across the country.