The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has begun the final audit of the results of 379,775 candidates who sat for the rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). This review is being conducted ahead of the official release of the results, which has now been postponed to Thursday.
According to sources close to the process, the audit involves a team of independent observers, including civil society organisations, academics, and JAMB officials, working to ensure the integrity of the resit results. The audit became necessary following technical failures that disrupted the initial exam exercise.
Earlier in the week, JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, had announced that the resit results would be released on Wednesday. However, findings by Kiin360 reveal that ongoing result verification processes caused the delay.
In response to the widespread disruptions, JAMB has also announced a new round of mop-up examinations to accommodate over 5.6 percent of registered candidates who missed the recently concluded 2025 UTME. This includes students who were absent from the original and rescheduled sittings, regardless of the reason.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, assured that no affected candidate would be left behind. “We are creating a new mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier exam due to absence will get another opportunity,” he said. “In any serious system, students are allowed to make up for missed exams, provided the process isn’t abused.”
Oloyede reiterated that the UTME is not a test of intelligence but a placement examination aimed at ranking candidates for limited admission slots into tertiary institutions. Addressing criticisms and conspiracy theories, he rejected allegations of ethnic bias or administrative negligence.
“I take responsibility, not because I failed, but because that’s what leadership demands,” Oloyede said. “We must rise above profiling. I didn’t realise some viewed issues around me through ethnic lenses.”
He praised both JAMB staff and candidates for their resilience amid the technical and logistical hurdles. “We knew that if we wasted more time lamenting the challenges, many students would lose their chance,” he added.
The Board has yet to fix a date for the special mop-up exercise but affirmed its commitment to fairness and transparency in all admission processes.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the UTME glitches has spilled into the political arena, as members of the House of Representatives from the South-East zone have demanded Professor Oloyede’s resignation. The lawmakers, led by Hon. Iduma Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi), described the disruptions as a “catastrophic institutional failure,” arguing that the South-East bore the brunt of the technical failures.
They faulted the board’s response, citing insufficient communication, clashes with WAEC examinations, and inadequate notice for the resit, which they say caused avoidable distress to students and families across the five South-Eastern states.
The caucus also called for the suspension of top JAMB officials overseeing digital operations and logistics, maintaining that the remedial efforts so far have not met expectations.
However, their stance was sharply opposed by lawmakers from the South-West, who defended Oloyede’s leadership and described the resignation call as unwarranted.
Oluwole Oke, a five-term House member from Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency, said: “The call for resignation is mischievous. Prof. Oloyede is one of the most transparent and upright public servants in Nigeria. He admitted the mistake and apologised. What else do we want?”
Wale Raji, another lawmaker from Lagos, noted that the technical glitch affected more students in Lagos than in the South-East. He praised Oloyede’s rare show of accountability in the public sector.
“By admitting fault and arranging a resit, he has set a commendable standard. The South-East’s call is uncalled for and condemnable,” Raji said.
Efforts to reach the South-West caucus chairman, James Faleke, for comments were unsuccessful as he neither responded to calls nor replied to WhatsApp messages.
As stakeholders await the official release of the resit results and further details on the mop-up exam, JAMB maintains that its focus remains on safeguarding the credibility of Nigeria’s admission process.
