No fewer than 200,000 more candidates crossed the 200 average mark in the Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination after the recent resit organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination Board, following the technical and human errors that marred the original exam..
Following widespread outrage over mass failure in the original UTME results released on May 9, JAMB disclosed server malfunctions across 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East. Affected candidates were rescheduled for a retake, whose results—released Sunday—showed notable performance improvements.
Mass Failure Triggers Probe, Systemic Lapses Uncovered
In the original UTME, over 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates scored below 200. Following public pressure and internal investigations, JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, admitted on May 14 that faulty server updates during the first three days of the exam hindered the upload of candidates’ responses.
“The results of 379,997 candidates across 157 centres in the Lagos and South-East zones had been compromised due to a technical glitch,” Oloyede said.
Resit Rewrites Outcome, Boosts Candidate Scores
A special resit was conducted for 379,000 candidates. According to JAMB, the number of candidates who scored above 200 has now risen to 565,988—up from 355,689 in 2023 and 439,961 in 2024.
“565,988 candidates, accounting for 29.3 per cent, scored 200 and above, compared with 24 per cent in 2024 and 23.36 per cent in 2023,” JAMB stated.
The Board confirmed that 1,931,467 results were released, marking 100% of registered candidates—a record participation level since the Computer-Based Test (CBT) format began in 2013.
JAMB also announced the release of withheld results for over 41,000 under-16 candidates. However, it clarified that these scores do not qualify them for admission.
“As part of the healing process, the meeting resolved that the withheld results of the underage candidates (except where litigation is involved) who performed below the established standards be released,” the board said. “Such result does not, however, qualify them for admission.”
These minors had previously signed an undertaking acknowledging that failing to meet the prescribed standards would nullify their eligibility for tertiary admission.
Beyond technical issues, JAMB accused school proprietors and CBT centres of exacerbating the chaos through collusion and malpractice.
“This situation has revealed numerous alarming practices perpetrated by candidates, certain Proprietors of Schools/Computer-Based Test centres, which have exacerbated examination irregularities,” JAMB said in its statement.
