The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed that he briefly considered resigning following a significant technical error that disrupted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Speaking at a meeting with chief external examiners, civil society organisations, and stakeholders in the tertiary education sector on Wednesday in Abuja, Oloyede addressed the controversy surrounding the examination results and the subsequent calls for his resignation.

"When it happened, my first reaction was to resign. But people advised me that the students will never forgive me because it would look like I abandoned them at such a time," Oloyede stated during the meeting.

The technical glitch came to light after JAMB released the 2025 UTME results on May 9, revealing that over 78% of candidates scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 points. This unusual performance pattern prompted an internal review by the Board, which uncovered a significant technical fault that had compromised the integrity of the results.

On May 14, Oloyede disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates across 157 examination centres in Lagos and the South-East were affected by the error. According to the JAMB boss, a flawed server update from one of JAMB's technical service providers led to the failure to upload candidates' responses during the first three days of the examination. The issue went undetected until after the results were published.

In response to the situation, JAMB organised a resit examination for affected candidates, which began on May 16 and continued beyond May 19.

The incident had sparked allegations of ethnic bias and sabotage from some critics, particularly as the affected centres were concentrated in specific regions of the country. However, JAMB has maintained that the error was purely technical in nature with no deliberate targeting of any region.

The South-East Representatives caucus had previously called for the cancellation of the entire 2025 UTME, while a House of Representatives panel attributed the crisis to human error rather than deliberate manipulation.

Despite the challenges, Oloyede has continued to oversee the remedial measures put in place by JAMB to address the situation and ensure that affected candidates have the opportunity to fairly participate in the examination process.