On Wednesday, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) finally admitted to errors that affected students’ performance during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Registrar of the Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, admitted to this during an ongoing press briefing in Abuja.
“What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors,” Oloyede said.
The UTME is a critical prerequisite for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It tests candidates in four subjects, including the compulsory Use of English, with the other three drawn from their proposed field of study.
Of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the UTME, over 1.5 million reportedly scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks, raising concerns across the education sector.
The examination body processed 1,955,069 results, but only 4,756 candidates (0.24 per cent) scored 320 and above, which is considered top-tier performance. Meanwhile, 7,658 candidates (0.39 per cent) scored between 300 and 319, bringing the total for those who scored 300 and above to 12,414 candidates (0.63 per cent).
Also, 73,441 candidates (3.76 per cent) scored between 250 and 299 while 334,560 candidates (17.11 per cent) scored between 200 and 249.
A total of 983,187 candidates (50.29 per cent) scored between 160 and 199, which is widely regarded as the minimum admissions threshold in many institutions.
In the same vein, 488,197 candidates (24.97 per cent) scored between 140 and 159, 57,419 candidates (2.94 per cent) scored between 120 and 139, 3,820 candidates (0.20 per cent) scored between 100 and 119, and 2,031 candidates (0.10 per cent) scored below 100.
Over 75 per cent of all candidates (1.5 million) scored below 200, the average score, seeing as the examination is graded over 400.
Some affected candidates threatened to initiate a lawsuit against JAMB.
