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The Deputy Speaker’s Address on the 2025 JAMB UTME Technical Crisis

[Protocol]

I address you today at a moment of both deep concern and urgent responsibility. The events surrounding the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have shaken public confidence in one of our nation’s most critical gateways to opportunity. The mass outcry that followed the release of this year’s results, and the subsequent technical review, demands not only transparency but decisive action to restore faith in our educational system.
First of all, let me begin by commending the candour, touching humility, and
accountability demonstrated by the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, and his team in admitting to the technical errors that affected nearly 380,000 candidates across the South-East Geopolitical Zone and Lagos. The swift apology and the decision to offer retake opportunities for
all affected candidates reflect a commitment to fairness and justice.

However, we must recognize that these measures, while necessary, do not
erase the trauma, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by our young people and their families. Nigeria unfortunately lost a UTME candidate to suicide, consequentially triggered by the ensuing results of this technical glitch. Our heart goes out to the loved ones of this brave young one.

The Technical Issues in Detail

The technical review results available to me have revealed that a critical system patch essential for the new shuffling and validation protocols was
not deployed to the server clusters servicing 157 centres in the South-East
and Lagos.

One of the most critical discoveries made revolved around three major
systemic changes introduced in the 2025 UTME. The first was a shift from the traditional count-based analysis to a more robust source-based analysis of results. In previous years, JAMB evaluated the integrity of examination sessions primarily by counting the number of responses submitted per session. If the majority of candidates in a session of 250 submitted a near-complete set of answers, the session was deemed valid.

Any significant deviation led to the disqualification of that centre’s results.
However, in 2025, a more advanced model was adopted; one that focused
on the actual source and logic of the answers provided, rather than just
their quantity.

The second change involved full-scale shuffling of both questions and
answer options. This ensured that even two candidates sitting in the same
session would not receive identical permutations, thereby enhancing test
security. The third change was a series of systemic improvements aimed at
optimizing performance and reducing lag during exam sessions. This was
a major policy change that saw the best and highest obtained UTME score
in 15 years; a remarkable achievement by JAMB in principle.

However, while these improvements were technologically sound in theory,
a major operational flaw was uncovered during the implementation phase.
The system patch necessary to support both shuffling and source-based
validation had been fully deployed on the server cluster supporting the
KAD (Kaduna) zone, but it was not applied to the LAG (Lagos) cluster,
which services centres in Lagos and the South-East. This omission persisted across all sessions until the 17th session, after which the error was discovered and corrected

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 and marking
structure. This affected an estimated 379,997 candidates, whose results
were severely impacted due to system mismatches during answer
validation.

To verify the scale and accuracy of this issue, JAMB collaborated with the
Educare Technical Team, which had gathered response data directly from
over 18,000 candidates. After deduplication and filtering, about 15,000
authentic records were analyzed. Of these, more than 14,000 originated
from the regions serviced by the unpatched LAG servers, confirming the
technical review’s findings. Comparative analyses between JAMB’s internal
audits and third-party system evaluations revealed significant overlap,
reinforcing the conclusion that the affected centres were indeed operating
under impaired conditions.

As a result, candidates in these centres were unfairly disadvantaged, with
their responses improperly validated and their scores misrepresented. This
was not a failure of our students, nor a deliberate act of sabotage, but a
preventable human error within our system.

We must not underestimate the toll this has taken. Parents and candidates
have voiced legitimate concerns about the hurried scheduling of resit
examinations, the overlap with ongoing WAEC assessments, the
psychological strain, and the logistical burdens of traveling to distant
centres on short notice. Reports from the resit examinations held on Friday
include complaints of difficult questions, time management issues, more
technical glitches, poor centre coordination, and a lack of adequate support for those still affected.

The Path Forward: Urgent Recommendations

In light of these revelations, I call for the following urgent actions:

1. Comprehensive Review of All Reports

JAMB must immediately review all available technical and independent reports including those from third-party educational technology companies that have gathered candidate-level data to fully understand the scope and implications of the crisis. Only by triangulating internal findings with external audits can we ensure that no affected candidate is left behind.

2. Independent System Audit

Now that the rescheduled examinations have concluded, I urge JAMB to
commission an independent, transparent audit of its entire examination
infrastructure. This audit should involve external professionals, system
engineers, and academic measurement experts to scrutinize every aspect
of the CBT engine, question delivery, answer validation, and result collation
processes.

3. Safeguarding Affected Candidates

It is imperative that candidates from the South-East and Lagos who have
already borne the brunt of these failures are not further disadvantaged.
JAMB must provide a clear, accessible mechanism for remark and appeal,
especially for those dissatisfied with the hurried resit or who experienced
technical difficulties during the second sitting. Furthermore, coordination
with WAEC and other examination bodies must continue to ensure that no
candidate’s academic progression is impeded by scheduling conflicts.

4. Transparent Communication and Data Release

JAMB should proactively publish anonymized, candidate-level result data
for independent verification and open its systems to Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests as a gesture of transparency and accountability.
This will go a long way in rebuilding public trust.

5. Strengthening Quality Assurance and Real-Time Monitoring

Going forward, JAMB must implement stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent recurrence.
Every system update must be thoroughly tested and confirmed across all server clusters before deployment during high-stakes examinations

Conclusion

To the affected candidates: your frustration is valid, and your voices have been heard. The integrity of our national examinations must never be compromised by technical lapses or human error. As Deputy Speaker, I assure you that the National Assembly stands ready to provide oversight and ensure that these reforms are not only promised but delivered.

Let us turn this painful episode into a catalyst for lasting improvement. Our young people deserve a system that is not only fair, but resilient, transparent, and worthy of their trust.
I end with this word of note to JAMB: “Strive even when you stumble;
transparency and honesty builds trust, and trust propels us forward.”

Thank you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!