JAMB reveals huge number of candidates affected by Technical scoring glitch

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has acknowledged that a technical error affected the scores of nearly 380,000 candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), prompting an urgent post-examination audit and a pledge to rectify the anomaly.

The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, made the disclosure during a press conference on Wednesday at the Board’s National Headquarters in Bwari, Abuja.

He confirmed that the Board’s initial post-examination review—normally conducted in June—was brought forward due to “strident public outcry and media attention” following the release of the results on May 9.

“We appreciate our critics for not being indifferent,” Oloyede stated.

“The unusual level of complaints prompted an immediate audit of the 2025 UTME, and our findings regrettably confirm that some candidates were impacted by a technical error during result processing,” he added.

According to the Registrar, the issue stemmed from a software update applied to a segment of JAMB’s computer-based testing system—referred to internally as the “LAG” operational zone, which includes Lagos and the South-East.

He said this update, designed to shuffle examination options to align with international best practices, was erroneously deployed in a way that corrupted data on some delivery servers.

“Specifically, the glitch affected 206,610 candidates across 65 centres in Lagos State and 173,387 candidates in 92 centres across the South-East region—totaling 379,997 affected candidates.

The Registrar revealed that the affected tests occurred between Friday, April 25, and Monday, April 28. “From Tuesday, April 29 onward, the issue had been corrected and all subsequent exams ran smoothly,” he noted.

He blamed the error on “patch errors” that occurred during the re-uploading of corrected examination responses.

“Inadvertently, the service provider failed to update certain delivery servers. This oversight, unfortunately, escaped detection before the results were released.”

Despite the glitch, JAMB’s data showed that the top scorer in the 2025 UTME recorded 374 marks—the highest in more than a decade, surpassing previous top scores ranging from 299 to 367 between 2013 and 2024.

Oloyede used the opportunity to underscore JAMB’s stringent quality assurance framework, which he said includes multiple layers of internal and external monitoring.

These involve Peace Monitors (former university principal officers), Chief External Examiners (vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts), technical consultants, and civil society observers. All JAMB technical staff are also screened with their National Identification Numbers (NINs) for accountability.

“We simulate, we rehearse, we upgrade—yet something still went wrong. It’s a classic case of ‘man proposes, God disposes’,” he said.

He said the Board has already begun working with software engineers, psychometric experts, and stakeholders to determine corrective measures for the affected candidates.

Oloyede assured that JAMB would uphold fairness, promising that “appropriate remedial steps would be taken promptly.”

“The integrity of our examination is paramount. We are not just listening—we are acting.”

The Registrar concluded by reiterating the Board’s commitment to transparency and excellence, stating that a full technical report would be made public in due course.

He said affected candidates are advised to await further updates as JAMB finalises the rectification process.