By Paul Dada
Nigerians were shell-shocked when the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said in its report about the performance of candidates who sat the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), that 78% of them scored less than 200.
That subpar performance caused eyebrows to be raised, and rightly so. Nigerians queried JAMB. Many of them screamed blue murder.
The huffing and puffing by Nigerians over the matter was necessary, in my view. And the outbursts were loud and long enough to cause JAMB to decide to review the examination process. The review happened earlier than planned.
On Wednesday 14 May, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, at a press conference in Abuja, revealed that investigation showed that the 2025 UTME was marred by technical errors.
He said, “Today marks a moment we shall not soon forget – a day that should have been filled with celebration for what was, until recently, regarded as our most successful UTME exercise. Regrettably, this joy has been overshadowed by an easily avoidable error by one or two persons,” Oloyede said.
Speaking further, Oloyede noted that, “In simple terms, while 65 centres (206,610 candidates) were affected in Lagos zone (comprising only Lagos state), 92 centres (173,387 candidates) were affected in Owerri zone, which includes the South East states. In clear terms, in the process of rectifying the issue, the technical personnel deployed by the Service Provider for LAG (Lagos and South-East zones) inadvertently failed to update some of the delivery servers. Regrettably, this oversight went undetected prior to the release of the results.”
The JAMB Registrar who wept profusely at the event said he took full responsibility for the negligence of the staff of the examination board. He also apologised for the trauma caused the candidates by the development. He then promised that the 379,997 affected candidates would re-sit the exam. Already, JAMB is implementing the remedial measures for the affected candidates.
As expected, mixed reactions greeted the revelation by JAMB. Some are hailing Oloyede for his contriteness by publicly taking full responsibility, a quality that is rare in public office holders. But others are calling for his head and the scrapping of JAMB.
Among those that have commended Oloyede is the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). In a letter to the JAMB Registrar, NANS said, “We write to commend the Board for its timely and transparent decision to conduct a retake of the 2025 UTME for candidates affected by technical and administrative across six states. This move is a commendable demonstration of your commitment to justice, fairness, and the integrity of Nigeria’s education system.”
Another loud sympathiser for Oloyede and JAMB is social media influencer Reno Omokri.
He said, “I have a lot of respect and trust for JAMB because they made an error, admitted it, and then apologised to the nation, with their Registrar General taking responsibility. Not only did the Registrar General of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board take full personal responsibility, but he also provided remedial solutions to indemnify those affected by the unfortunate incident.
“I see a lot of people insulting JAMB and their Registrar General, Professor Ishaq Olarenwaju Oloyede, and I marvel because many of these people do not understand that what the leadership of JAMB did is rare and exemplary.
If you think it is easy, ask yourself this: How many big politicians, pastors, churches, and others in society have made errors and admitted them?
However, you have people like Ambassador Olufemi Ajadi Oguntoyinbo, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP), inflicting heavy knocks on JAMB and its head. To him, “the recent admission of errors by JAMB in the conduct of this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, ( UTME) is an embarrassment to the nation.”
Among notable persons excoriating JAMB is former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili. In a post she shared on X, Ezekwesili, said, “Why could the authorities not have immediately acted with humility and done an unbiased and swift system check once unusual trends emerged instead of immediately impugning citizens who expressed concern?
“The Ministry of Education and JAMB were embarrassingly anecdotal in their pejorative non-evidence-based explanation of the significantly unusual results of candidates in the five South East States predominantly.
“Technical matters must always be examined with professionalism and that has sadly disappeared in the toxic atmosphere created by incompetent and dishonest politicians and intellectuals who should know better.”
I think divergent views on matters of national importance such as this, are good and serve to enrich conversations about them. However, it is bothersome that some Nigerians are spinning the web of ethnic bias narrative around the issue. It is sad that in Nigeria, everything must be given ethnic colouration. Some people have convinced themselves that Oloyede is biased against a section of the country.
The question is: Why would a man who has been superintending over JAMB and overseeing the UTME through the years without this level of hiccups in any part of Nigeria suddenly turn against a whole southeast region? What exactly does he stand to gain? And if he is biased against the southeast, is he also prejudiced against Lagos that has Yoruba majority?
While it is true that Oloyede is not perfect, he is known to have been a reformer in JAMB.
Before Oloyede was appointed in 2016 as JAMB Registrar by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the man who headed that body was Dibu Ojerinde. Ojerinde is also a Yoruba man like Oloyede.
n March 2021, Ojerinde was arrested by the ICPC and arraigned on an 18-count charge of misappropriation of funds to the tune of N5.2 billion when he was the head of JAMB. Of course, he was granted bail by the court. But in 2023, he was re-arrested. In fact, his four children are also facing corruption charges.
But Oloyede has been reported to have brought in a more efficient service delivery, transparency and accountability to the examination body.
Let me give you an example; between 2010 and 2016, JAMB remitted N50,752 544 to government coffers. But under Oloyede, JAMB remitted N5 billion in 2017 only.
Is Oloyede perfect? No. But he has led JAMB and conducted UTME through the years with greater credibility.
And it was probably because he didn’t want his record sullied that he apologized tearfully for the glitch that marred the 2015 UTME.
I can’t buy the narrative that he is biased against the Igbo. He is not known to have done anything close to that since he started to hold sway in JAMB. It’s even possible that saboteurs within JAMB made the error happen to dent Oloyede’s image.
Who knows?
While we must hold public officers accountable, let’s make sure that we are doing it in the right way. Meanwhile, JAMB should put its house in order. This kind of glitch must never happen again.
