The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, was moved to tears after admitting that a human mistake struck some Lagos candidates during the 2025 UTME. The mistake informed a vast majority of students that they must resit the exam.
The emotional confession was made by Oloyede during a press briefing. He told the nation that the board discovered that some of the students who sat for the exam at one of their centres were incorrectly marked absent due to a technical error caused by the staff running the biometric data.
He explained that even though the candidates were physically present and sat for the test, their records were not properly captured, making it seem like they did not report. Therefore, the afflicted candidates received partial or absent results.
Flashback:
This is not the first time technical issues have delayed JAMB exams. In 2021, there were reports of server crashes and login failures during Computer-Based Testing. Poor infrastructure and mismanagement at some accredited centres have also been complained about by students. The board had promised to strengthen its systems, but the latest trouble shows that human errors are a major problem.
Obviously distraught, the registrar apologized to the offended candidates and their families. He assured them that they would be given a chance to resit the exam without being charged extra. He also promised that the individuals responsible would be subjected to disciplinary actions.
The board has identified the affected centre and scheduled a special resit date to make sure the students are not unfairly deprived of university admission.
Parents and pupils reacted to the incident with mixed feelings. While some hailed the transparency of JAMB for taking responsibility for the error, others demanded thorough investigation to prevent such occurrences in future exams.
Education stakeholders say that the incident points towards improved supervision, improved staff training, and stepped up monitoring at all CBT centers in the country.
Briefly, the outcry and public apology by the registrar of JAMB underscore the gravity of the situation. Thousands of students are pinning their lives on this examination, and a single mistake could ruin everything. Many now expect this incident to bring about true change in the exam body.
