JAMB registrar breaks down in tears, apologises for UTME result errors

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), broke down in tears on Wednesday as he offered an apology to candidates affected by technical errors in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exam (UTME).

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Oloyede admitted that mistakes made by one of JAMB’s service providers led to distorted results for nearly 380,000 candidates in 157 centres across Lagos and Owerri.

Visibly emotional, the registrar said: “As registrar of JAMB, I hold myself personally responsible and I unreservedly apologise for the trauma it has subjected affected Nigerians to, directly and indirectly.”

Oloyede, who struggled to hold back tears, said the board’s reputation has taken a hit despite rigorous quality assurance measures put in place before the examination.

“We burn the midnight oil, but despite everything, an error happened. It is a classical manifestation of the axiom that man proposes, but God disposes,” he said.

JAMB has scheduled a resit for all affected candidates starting Friday, May 16.

The board said candidates will be contacted directly through SMS, email, and phone calls to reprint their slips.

The results from JAMB’s 2025 UTME were released on May 9.

An analysis indicated that more than 78 per cent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum obtainable points.

This spurred protests that questioned the overall integrity of the examination process.