Deputy Speaker expresses concerns over public outcry trailing 2025 UTME

Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, on Sunday, expressed grave concern over the public outcry trailing the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as well as the rescheduled examination held on Friday, 16th May, 2025.

Hon. Kalu, who spoke during the press briefing held in Abuja, noted that the measures put in place by Professor Isaq Oloyede-led Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), though necessary, do not erase the trauma, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by thousands of Students and their families.

The Deputy Speaker specifically expressed grief over the death of one of the UTME candidates who committed suicide as a result to the results of the technical glitch.

He said: “I address you today at a moment of both deep concern and urgent responsibility. The events surrounding the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have shaken public confidence in one of our nation’s most critical gateways to opportunity.

“The mass outcry that followed the release of this year’s results, and the subsequent technical review, demands not only transparency but decisive action to restore faith in our educational system.

“First of all, let me begin by commending the candor, touching humility, and accountability demonstrated by the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, and his team in admitting to the technical errors that affected nearly 380,000 candidates across the South-East Geopolitical Zone and Lagos.

“The swift apology and the decision to offer retake opportunities for all affected candidates reflect a commitment to fairness and justice.

“However, we must recognize that these measures, while necessary, do not erase the trauma, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by our young.people and their families. Nigeria unfortunately lost a UTME candidate to suicide, consequentially triggered by the ensuing results of this technical glitch. Our heart goes out to the loved ones of this brave young one.”

While speaking on the privileged information made available to him, the Deputy Speaker said: “The technical review results available to me have revealed that a critical system patch essential for the new shuffling and validation protocols was not deployed to the server clusters servicing 157 centres in the South-East and Lagos.

“One of the most critical discoveries made revolved around three major systemic changes introduced in the 2025 UTME. The first was a shift from the traditional count-based analysis to a more robust source-based analysis of results. In previous years, JAMB evaluated the integrity of examination sessions primarily by counting the number of responses submitted per session. If the majority of candidates in a session of 250 submitted a near-complete set of answers, the session was deemed valid.

“Any significant deviation led to the disqualification of that centre’s results. However, in 2025, a more advanced model was adopted; one that focused on the actual source and logic of the answers provided, rather than just their quantity.

“The second change involved full-scale shuffling of both questions and answer options. This ensured that even two candidates sitting in the same session would not receive identical permutations, thereby enhancing test security.

“The third change was a series of systemic improvements aimed at optimizing performance and reducing lag during exam sessions. This was a major policy change that saw the best and highest obtained UTME score in 15 years; a remarkable achievement by JAMB in principle.

“However, while these improvements were technologically sound in theory, a major operational flaw was uncovered during the implementation phase. The system patch necessary to support both shuffling and source-based validation had been fully deployed on the server cluster supporting the KAD (Kaduna) zone, but it was not applied to the LAG (Lagos) cluster, which services centres in Lagos and the South-East. This omission persisted across all sessions until the 17th session, after which the error was discovered and corrected.

“As a result, approximately 92 centres in the South-East and 65 centres in Lagos, totalling 157 centres, operated using outdated server logic that could not appropriately handle the new answer submission and marking structure. This affected an estimated 379,997 candidates, whose results were severely impacted due to system mismatches during answer validation.

“To verify the scale and accuracy of this issue, JAMB collaborated with the Educare Technical Team, which had gathered response data directly from over 18,000 candidates. After deduplication and filtering, about 15,000 authentic records were analyzed. Of these, more than 14,000 originated from the regions serviced by the unpatched LAG servers, confirming the technical review’s findings.

“Comparative analyses between JAMB’s internal audits and third-party system evaluations revealed significant overlap, reinforcing the conclusion that the affected centres were indeed operating under impaired conditions.

“As a result, candidates in these centres were unfairly disadvantaged, with their responses improperly validated and their scores misrepresented. This was not a failure of our students, nor a deliberate act of sabotage, but a preventable human error within our system.

“We must not underestimate the toll this has taken. Parents and candidates have voiced legitimate concerns about the hurried scheduling of resit examinations, the overlap with ongoing WAEC assessments, the psychological strain, and the logistical burdens of traveling to distant centres on short notice.

“Reports from the resit examinations held on Friday include complaints of difficult questions, time management issues, more technical glitches, poor centre coordination, and a lack of adequate support for those still affected.”

In the bid to avert future occurrences, Hon. Kalu called for a comprehensive review of all the reports, saying: “JAMB must immediately review all available technical and independent reports, including those from third-party educational technology companies that have gathered candidate-level data to fully understand the scope and implications of the crisis. Only by triangulating internal findings with external audits can we ensure that no affected candidate is left behind.”

While stressing the need for an independent system audit, the Deputy Speaker said: “Now that the rescheduled examinations have concluded, I urge JAMB to commission an independent, transparent audit of its entire examination infrastructure. This audit should involve external professionals, system engineers, and academic measurement experts to scrutinize every aspect of the CBT engine, question delivery, answer validation, and result collation processes.”

Hon. Kalu also underscored the need to safeguard affected candidates, he maintained that: “candidates from the South-East and Lagos who have already borne the brunt of these failures mustn’t be further disadvantaged. JAMB must provide a clear, accessible mechanism for remark and appeal, especially for those dissatisfied with the hurried resit or who experienced technical difficulties during the second sitting. Furthermore, coordination with WAEC and other examination bodies must continue to ensure that no candidate’s academic progression is impeded by scheduling conflicts.”

He also emphasized the need for transparent Communication and data release, urging that: “JAMB should proactively publish anonymized, candidate-level result data for independent verification and open its systems to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests as a gesture of transparency and accountability. This will go a long way in rebuilding public trust.”

Hon. Kalu also underlined the need to strengthen quality assurance and real-time monitoring of future examinations, saying: “Going forward, JAMB must implement stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent recurrence. Every system update must be thoroughly tested and confirmed across all server clusters before deployment during high-stakes examinations.”

He, however, pacified all the affected candidates, saying, “Your frustration is valid, and your voices have been heard. The integrity of our national examinations must never be compromised by technical lapses or human error. As Deputy Speaker, I assure you that the National Assembly stands ready to provide oversight and ensure that these reforms are not only promised but delivered.

“Let us turn this painful episode into a catalyst for lasting improvement. Our young people deserve a system that is not only fair, but resilient, transparent, and worthy of their trust. I end with this word of note to JAMB: ‘Strive even when you stumble; transparency and honesty builds trust, and trust propels us forward’.”

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