Oyo Rep, Olajide calls for urgent overhaul of JAMB’s digital infrastructure

As affected candidates begin re-taking their rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) from today, the House of Representatives has declared that it is watching closely and will act decisively as the national assembly and other stakeholders await concrete steps from JAMB and its parent ministry to rebuild confidence in Nigeria’s most critical tertiary admission process.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Digital, Information Communication Technology and Cybersecurity, Hon. Adedeji Stanley Olajide stated this, while speaking to journalists after an oversight session with stakeholders in the education and tech ecosystem in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

Olajide, noted that preliminary investigations conducted revealed a catalogue of systemic deficiencies in JAMB’s operations.

These, he said, range from poor registration architecture to a lack of real-time server backup, inconsistent CBT centre standards and the outsourcing of critical functions to poorly regulated private agents.

He described the recent crisis involving the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as a “national embarrassment”, stating that the lives of over two million young Nigerians are being toyed with due to the technical illiteracy and administrative lapses of those entrusted with managing Nigeria’s critical examination infrastructure.

Hon. Olajide, who represents Ibadan North-West/Ibadan South-West federal constituency of Oyo state at the national assembly, in his assessment of the reported “technical glitch” that marred the 2025 UTME, noted that the Board’s failure to manage its digital infrastructure had not only undermined the credibility of the examination but has also cast a dark cloud over the future of thousands of Nigerian youths whose hopes hang on JAMB’s annual assessments.

“What happened is more than just a glitch,” Hon. Olajide said. “It is a symptom of a larger rot within our public systems, a product of neglect, poor training and a disregard for the importance of technology governance. If the life of a 17-year-old is determined by a malfunctioning computer server or poor oversight, then we have failed as a nation.”

The 2025 UTME was marred by widespread reports of system failures, mass failures and unexplainable low scores. Over 1.5 million out of more than two million candidates scored below 200, prompting public outcry. JAMB later admitted that updates installed on some servers before the examination caused data upload failures in several centres across Lagos and parts of the South-East.

According to Olajide, his one-on-one interactions with affected candidates and their parents in Ibadan revealed that many had spent sleepless nights preparing, only to face traumatic experiences during registration and at CBT centres.

“We had candidates who could not access their results. Some were wrongly marked absent. Others went through hell trying to register, jumping from one cybercafé to another because the JAMB portal kept failing. Centre allocation is another nightmare,” he said.

He described as deeply troubling the continued reliance on privately owned CBT centres, many of which, he noted, lack the capacity to handle national level digital examinations. He also raised security concerns about data exposure and the integrity of the examination environment.

“You have a situation where students are compelled to go to private business centres for something as sensitive as registration. Some CBT centres are owned by private interests with little or no compliance with data protection protocols. This is not just mismanagement, it is a security risk,” he added.

The lawmaker, whose committee exercises oversight over digital institutions such as NITDA, NDPC, NCC, and NIMC, called for an urgent overhaul of JAMB’s digital infrastructure. He recommended that the Federal Government immediately initiate a multi-agency review of all digital public service delivery platforms, starting with examination bodies.

He also disclosed that the House Committee on Digital, Information Communication Technology and Cybersecurity will soon summon JAMB, NITDA and the Ministry of Education to give a full account of the events that led to the UTME crisis.

“We cannot claim to be in the digital age and still be failing at basic digital processes. It is high time Nigeria create a unified, government owned digital ecosystem for national examinations. One that is transparent, secure and not outsourced to poorly vetted private interests,” Olajide stated.

He further called for the implementation of Artificial Intelligence monitoring systems at examination centres, biometric validation at all stages and blockchain backed result verification mechanisms to restore trust in the system.

While commending JAMB for taking responsibility and rescheduling the exams of over 370,000 affected candidates, Olajide stressed that apologies must be matched with action.

“This is not just about salvaging this year’s exam. We must ensure that this never happens again. Every young Nigerian deserves a fair, credible shot at their future. We must not fail them again.”