JAMB 2025 UTME Technical Glitch Affects Nearly 380,000 Candidates: Full Details and What You Need to Know
What Happened?
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially confirmed a major technical error disrupted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), impacting 379,997 candidates across 157 exam centres in Lagos and the South-East zones of Nigeria. The announcement was made by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, during a press briefing in Abuja, where he apologized for the disruption and took full responsibility for the incident.
Scope of the Problem
The glitch affected 65 centres in Lagos, involving 206,610 candidates, and 92 centres in the South-East, impacting 173,387 candidates. This technical failure caused incorrect exam content delivery and failure to upload candidates’ responses during the first three days of the exam, leading to widespread discrepancies in results and a significant number of candidates scoring below expectations. The 2025 UTME saw 78.5% of the 1.95 million candidates scoring below 200 out of 400, a historically low performance attributed largely to this glitch.
Cause of the Technical Glitch
JAMB explained that the problem originated from a failed system update on April 29, 2025, which was intended to fix existing issues but instead caused new errors45. Specifically, technical personnel from the service provider did not update some delivery servers in Lagos and South-East zones, which went undetected before the release of results. This oversight compromised the integrity and reliability of the examination process.
JAMB’s Response and Next Steps
In response, JAMB has scheduled a resit for all affected candidates starting May 16, 2025, to restore fairness and credibility. Candidates will be notified via SMS, email, and phone calls and are advised to reprint their examination slips for details on the rescheduled exams. JAMB is working closely with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to ensure no timetable conflicts during the retake period.
