The decision follows mounting pressure from education stakeholders, parents, and civil society groups, which have condemned candidates’ dismal performance in this year’s exam.
Following a nationwide outcry over widespread failure in the recently concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has set Thursday, May 15, 2025, to review the examination’s conduct and results comprehensively, SaharaReporters has learned.
The decision follows mounting pressure from education stakeholders, parents, and civil society groups, which have condemned candidates’ dismal performance in this year’s exam.
SaharaReporters had reported that JAMB received a formal request from a law firm, John Nwobodo & Associates, demanding the release of 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) questions and answers for over 1.5 million candidates who scored below 200.
This followed concerns over the examination’s unprecedented failure rate, which saw more than 70% of candidates scoring under the pass mark 200.
The law firm, which said it represents the 1,534,654 candidates, raised the alarm about potential discrepancies in the results, suggesting a possible malfunction in JAMB’s software.
According to the firm, the candidates’ scores varied significantly, ranging from below 100 to between 160 and 199, with some of the lowest performers raising doubts over the examination’s integrity.
In an official circular dated May 13, 2025 and addressed to Mr. Alex Onyia, CEO of Lagos-based education technology firm EDUCARE, JAMB extended an invitation to join a newly constituted panel tasked with auditing the entire conduct of the 2025 UTME.
“In furtherance of the commitment of the Board to achieve public confidence in its processes, especially against the backdrop of the recent outcry in some quarters following the release of the 2025 UTME results, the Management of the Board has approved your participation to be part of the review panel constituted to appraise the conduct of the examination with the mandate to identify challenges, if there are any, and proffer relevant recommendations to prevent a recurrence,” the letter read.
The circular, signed by Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, also noted that the panel is scheduled to convene on Thursday, May 15, 2025, and will include key players in Nigeria’s education sector.Nigerian fashion
It further read, “The membership of the Review Panel includes All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Chief External Examiners, Computer Professionals of Association of Nigeria (CPN), Educational Assessment & Research Network, Vice Chancellors of Universities, Rectors of Polytechnics, Provosts of Colleges of Education, and other support staff of the Board attached to the Panel.”
JAMB made it clear that the participation of panel members would be “at no cost to the Board”.
This dramatic U-turn comes just days after JAMB initially defended the poor results, insisting they reflected the candidates’ “true academic abilities” and denying any wrongdoing.Nigerian fashion
However, with social media flooded with testimonies of system crashes, delayed exam starts, and alleged computer malfunctions during the test, public trust in the integrity of the process has eroded rapidly.
