A technical review conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has revealed that a critical oversight in server updates, coupled with human error, led to the invalidation of results for 379,997 candidates in the five states of the South East and Lagos State who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

JAMB partnered with the Educare Technical Team, an independent tech partner, to verify the scale of the impact. Data was gathered from over 18,000 candidates, and after cleansing, about 15,000 authentic response logs were analysed.

The revelation was made during a high-level technical review session held on Wednesday at JAMB’s headquarters in Abuja.

The emergency meeting, chaired by JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, was convened in response to the widespread outcry that followed the release of unusually low scores from the 2025 UTME the previous Friday.

A technical review conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has revealed that a critical oversight in server updates, coupled with human error, led to the invalidation of results for 379,997 candidates in the five states of the South East and Lagos State who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

JAMB partnered with the Educare Technical Team, an independent tech partner, to verify the scale of the impact. Data was gathered from over 18,000 candidates, and after cleansing, about 15,000 authentic response logs were analysed.

The revelation was made during a high-level technical review session held on Wednesday at JAMB’s headquarters in Abuja.

The emergency meeting, chaired by JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, was convened in response to the widespread outcry that followed the release of unusually low scores from the 2025 UTME the previous Friday.

This led to widespread mismatches in answer interpretation and validation.

“Over 14,000 of those records were traced to the affected centres under the LAG server cluster,” the report confirmed, adding that internal and external audits showed significant overlap in results, supporting the conclusion of systemic malfunction.

“As a result, approximately 92 centres in the South-East and 65 centres in Lagos — totalling 157 centres — operated using outdated server logic that could not appropriately handle the new answer submission/marking structure. This affected an estimated 379,997 candidates, whose results were severely impacted due to system mismatches during answer validation,” the report stated.

It added, “This review, conducted with thoroughness and transparency, signifies JAMB’s resolve to uphold the sanctity of its examination processes. Going forward, stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms will be implemented to prevent such oversights.

“In summary, JAMB opened its systems to independent reviews to restore public confidence and ensure the reliability of the UTME for all stakeholders. And we hereby report, that this incident was neither a system failure nor administrative manipulation, but an outright human error.”

Speaking during the press briefing in Abuja, Oloyede broke down in tears while addressing issues surrounding the results, admitting that the errors were caused by a systemic failure.

He stated that the affected 379,997 candidates would resit the examination.

“In simple terms, while 65 centres (206,610) were affected in Lagos Zone (comprising only Lagos), 92 centres (173,387) were affected in Owerri Zone, which includes the South East states.

“In clear terms, in the process of rectifying this issue, the technical personnel deployed by the service provider inadvertently failed to update some of the delivery services. Regrettably, this oversight went undetected prior to the release of the results.”

Speaking further, Oloyede noted that the board was able to isolate the affected centres, adding that a resit would be organised for the affected candidates.

“We have decided that all the candidates affected in the 157 centres out of 882 centres will be contacted to retake their examinations starting from Friday, May 16, 2025. These candidates are to be contacted through text messages addressed to their registered phones,” the JAMB boss added.

“I understand that there are three powerful expressions which contain one word, two words and three words respectively. They are please, thank you and I am sorry. So, I appeal to the candidates and those affected by the error of our system to accept this explanation as the truth of the matter without embellishment, PLEASE. I apologise and take full responsibility, not just in words.

“Then, I want to say a big THANK YOU to the Honourable Minister of Education for his unwavering belief in JAMB and what the board stands for. I also appreciate all officers and officials who believe in us for their goodwill in the face of this challenge. We have vowed to uphold integrity as the abiding philosophy of JAMB and we won’t waver or depart from it despite the fact that we are not infallible. I am equally grateful to all stakeholders who have lent us their support and expertise in arriving at a logical conclusion that we have arrived at. And for the inconveniencies, once again, on behalf of JAMB, I say, I AM SORRY to all Nigerians.”

An education analyst, Jacob Sule, who posted on X via his account @jacobsule asked that the registrar stepped aside.

“A country should not be governed by emotions or personal sentiments. Given the circumstances, the Registrar, Professor Oloyede, should be asked to step aside immediately to allow for a full scale independent and transparent investigation.

“Additionally, the Registrar must publicly retract his earlier statements and issue a formal apology to the affected students who have endured undue stress and discomfort. Accountability and empathy are essential in restoring public trust in our institutions.”

Samoal Fred, also on X, stated, “Instead of shedding crocodile tears, while some irresponsible adults applauded in the audience, Prof. Oloyede should have tendered his resignation. That was the least he could have done.”

Ajao Olumota, who posted via @MrGatsby, added, “Oloyede should please resign. This is disgraceful from him.”

Funsho Olushola, who posted on X via @abolajijnr, said, “Someone lost her life already. Oloyede should be in jail already. Everyone responsible should resign and face the law. Inept organization.”

Meanwhile, angry parents of underage candidates demanded that their children’s results be released by the board.

One of the parents, who identified herself simply as Mr. Ashaolu, told The PUNCH in Abuja, “We don’t understand why the board has refused to release the results of the under 16 candidates. Why subject these candidates to trauma? They sat the examinations and should have access to their results.”

Mrs Abiodun Ashimolowo added, “My daughter has been bothered. Why will you hold unto their results because they are underage? Where in the world is that done?”

Also, the President, Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Danjuma Haruka, commended Oloyede for openly admitting to the technical glitches that affected the UTME candidates.

Haruka praised Oloyede’s honesty and called on other government agencies to emulate such transparency.

“I commend him for his openness in admitting that a mistake was made. I wish all arms of government would follow the example set by Professor Oloyede,” he said.

However, the PTA is demanding further clarity on the nature of the errors that disrupted the examination.

“Were these computer errors? What specific mistakes were identified? As parents, we would like to see the list of affected candidates so we can be assured that the fault does not lie with our children,” Haruka added.