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By Tracy Moses
The House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to investigate the technical fault that resulted in the widespread failure recorded in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The decision followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Adewale Adebayo, who represents a constituency in Osun State.
It will be recalled that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released the results of the 2025 UTME on May 9, with a significant number of candidates posting poor scores.
Reports revealed that over 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 marks out of the total 400 obtainable.
Following a prompt internal review, JAMB identified a major technical fault behind the results.
During a press conference held on Wednesday in Abuja, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed that 379,997 candidates were affected due to discrepancies linked to server issues. He said these arose from faulty software updates by one of the technical service providers handling JAMB’s operations in the Lagos and South-East zones.
The glitch, which occurred during the first three days of the examination, prevented the proper uploading of candidates’ answers. According to Oloyede, the error remained undetected before the results were made public.
He announced that the affected candidates will be allowed to retake the examination between May 16 and May 19, 2025.
Presenting the motion on the floor of the House, Rep. Adebayo lamented the hardships faced by many Nigerians, including long travels to exam centres, only to be met with such setbacks.
Contributing to the debate, Hon. Sada Soli from Katsina praised the JAMB Registrar for owning up to the error and offering an apology to the public. He described Oloyede as a man of integrity who has also improved the board’s finances since assuming office.
However, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas stated that whether the registrar deserves commendation is a matter for the investigative committee to determine.
The motion was adopted unanimously through a voice vote.
Following this, the House called on the federal government to establish Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres in all local government areas across the country.
Lawmakers also urged JAMB to release the results of candidates who are below the age of 16.