JAMB Registrar
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has finally broken his silence on the controversy surrounding the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results. In a press conference held at the JAMB National Headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, Prof. Oloyede apologized to Nigerians for the technical errors that affected some candidates’ scores.
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MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES
Press Conference Address on the Complaints about the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) Results by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, CON, FNAL, at the Boardroom of JAMB National Headquarters, Bwari, Abuja, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
1.0 First of All
Gentlemen of the press, it is with deep feelings and a high sense of responsibility that I address you today on the subject of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results, which has generated some traction in public discourse and social space. I want to begin by appreciating you for gathering here today, especially to the press, whose extensive coverage has highlighted the release of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results, formally announced on Friday, 9th May 2025. Similarly, we appreciate all those who have lent their voices to the strident complaints on the results we released because you all did so out of concern. I appreciate our critics immensely because they could have chosen to be indifferent. I agree with the person who said that the opposite of love isn’t hate, it is indifference; the opposite of art is not ugliness, it is indifference; the opposite of faith is not heresy, it is indifference; and the opposite of life is not death, it is indifference. By not being indifferent to JAMB, we are grateful. Today marks a moment we shall not soon forget – a day that should have been filled with celebration for what was, until recently, regarded as our most successful UTME exercise. Regrettably, this joy has been overshadowed by an easily avoidable error by one or two persons.
2.0 JAMB and Quality Assurance
Gentlemen of the press, quality assurance is cardinal to the operations of JAMB. I can assure you that we scale all heights, fathom all depths and traverse all horizons to ascertain that quality assurance mechanisms permeate all our operations from the take-off point to the finish line. We burn the midnight oil and we set our standards high. This is why we have guidelines, checklists and protocols guiding our activities right from the time of registration to the points of monitoring and supervision to the processing of results.
3.0 Between KAD and LAG
Let me disclose part of how we operate in JAMB for the first time in public. Conscious of the fault-lines of Nigeria, we use two operational ‘vehicles’ to traverse Nigeria under the code names of KAD and LAG. The KAD vehicle contains the Northern states excluding Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Niger, Kogi and FCT but it includes the six South South states. The LAG vehicle, on the other hand, consists of Southern states excluding the 6SouthSouth states but it includes Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Niger, Kogi and FCT. These ‘vehicles’ are deployed to serve Nigerians as a whole, the South being part of the North and the North being part of the South.
4.0 A Meeting of Minds
On the morning of Monday, May 12 2025, we issued a tentative press statement which includes “… If it is determined that there were indeed glitches, we will implement appropriate remedial measures promptly, as we do in the case of the examinations themselves.” Apart from officials of JAMB and other Government agencies, such as, Nigeria Education and Research Development Council (NERDC), we also summoned some experts and professionals who graciously responded to us.
5.0 No Problem without a Solution
We have decided that all the candidates affected in the 157 centres out of 882 centres will be contacted to retake their examinations starting from Friday, May 16, 2025. These candidates are to be contacted through text messages addressed to their registered phone numbers, their email addresses, their profiles and phone calls by JAMB.
6.0 Appeal, Appreciation and Apology
I understand that there are three powerful expressions which contain one word, two words and three words respectively. They are please, thank you and I am sorry. So, I appeal to the candidates and those affected by the error of our system to accept this explanation as the truth of the matter without embellishment, PLEASE. I apologise and take full responsibility not just in words. Then, I want to say a big THANK YOU to the Honourable Minister of Education for his unwavering belief in JAMB and what the Board stands for. I also appreciate all officers and officials who believe in us for their goodwill in the face of this challenge. We have vowed to uphold integrity as the abiding philosophy of JAMB and we won’t waver or depart from it despite the fact that we are not infallible. I am equally grateful to all stakeholders who have lent us their support and expertise in arriving at a logical conclusion that we have arrived at. And for the inconveniences, once again, on behalf of JAMB, I say, I AM SORRY to all Nigerians. Thank you.