Mass Failure Fallout: 379,997 UTME Candidates to Resit as JAMB Confirms Devastating Server Error in Lagos and S’East
✍️ By: IDNN Education Desk
In a harrowing admission that has shaken Nigeria’s educational system, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has ordered a resit for a staggering 379,997 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates, following revelations of a catastrophic server glitch.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, could not hold back tears during an emergency press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday. He described the incident as a “systemic failure” triggered by a critical server patch omission in the Lagos (LAG) cluster, affecting 157 centres across Lagos and the five states of the South-East.
“We have failed these candidates. And I take full responsibility,” said a visibly emotional Oloyede.
An audit by JAMB’s technical partner, Educare Technical Team, revealed that the error stemmed from human oversight during a server update, causing mismatches in the answer validation process.
THE NUMBERS:
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1.9 million candidates sat for the 2025 UTME
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1.5 million scored below 200
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379,997 affected in Lagos & South-East
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157 exam centres ran outdated server logic
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65 centres in Lagos (206,610 students)
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92 centres in the South-East (173,387 students)
RESIT DETAILS:
All affected candidates will retake their exams between Friday, May 16 and Monday, May 19, 2025. Notifications are being sent via text to registered phone numbers.
“I say THANK YOU to all who stood with us. And to every Nigerian family affected — I AM SORRY,” said Oloyede.
PARENTAL REACTION:
The Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (PTA), through its President Mr. Danjuma Haruka, praised JAMB for its transparency but demanded greater clarity:
“We want a list of affected candidates. Our children deserve to be exonerated,” Haruka insisted.
IDNN ANALYSIS:
This incident casts a long shadow over Nigeria’s exam integrity protocols. With over 1.5 million low scorers, public confidence in standardized testing is now on a razor’s edge. The 2025 UTME might be remembered not just for technical flaws, but for its unprecedented crisis management—and JAMB’s willingness to admit failure publicly.
