The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed that he initially considered resigning following a major technical glitch that marred the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Speaking at a media interaction in Abuja on Wednesday, Oloyede said the failure of one of the Board’s technical service providers to update a crucial software component led to the non-transmission of candidates’ responses in 157 centres, particularly across Lagos and the South-East. A total of 397,499 candidates were affected by the glitch which occurred between the first and third days of the UTME.
“My first reaction was to resign,” the former University of Ilorin Vice-Chancellor disclosed. “I felt very terrible, especially for the innocent candidates affected. But I was advised against it because students and stakeholders would feel abandoned in the middle of the crisis.”
The failure prompted JAMB to cancel results from the affected centres and organise a rescheduled examination beginning May 16, with mop-up tests planned for those unable to sit for the resit. The Board assured candidates that no one would be unjustly denied the opportunity to gain admission due to no fault of theirs.
Oloyede, however, faced backlash from several quarters, including the South-East Caucus of the House of Representatives, which demanded his resignation. The caucus alleged bias and conspiracy against a section of the country, an allegation the Registrar firmly dismissed.
“There is no conspiracy against any region. The insinuation that we deliberately targeted the South-East is completely unfounded. Our system does not recognise ethnicity, religion, or geography, it is built strictly on merit and fairness,” he said.
The Registrar also lamented the tragic suicide of 19-year-old Opesusi Timilehin, a UTME candidate who reportedly took her own life after scoring 146 in the exam. He called for a minute of silence in her honour during the briefing and urged parents and guardians to provide emotional support for their wards.
Oloyede affirmed that JAMB has since reviewed its technical processes and penalised the erring service provider. He pledged to strengthen the integrity of future examinations through improved oversight and monitoring mechanisms.
“While I may have wanted to quit, I am committed to seeing this through. We must not allow one setback to undo all the progress we’ve made in recent years. We are taking every measure to ensure this never happens again,” he concluded.
The 2025 UTME incident marks one of the most challenging episodes in Oloyede’s tenure since assuming office in 2016, but the Registrar remains resolute in steering the examination body through what he described as a “painful but corrective moment.”
