From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, resolved to investigate the circumstances surrounding the mass failure recorded in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
It mandated its Committee on Basic Examinations to undertake the probe and report back to it within four weeks for further legislative actions.
Also, the parliament, while urging the Federal Government to establish Computer Based Test (CBT) centres across the 774 local government areas, mandated its Committee on Appropriations to capture the cost in the 2026 budget. It also charged the Federal Government to direct the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) to release the results of all the students who are under 16 years who participated in the 2025 UTME.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Morufu Adewale urging the parliament to investigate the circumstances surrounding the mass failure recorded in the 2025 UTME. Adewale, in his lead debate, lamented that several candidates were forced to travel long distances to enable them access CBT centres, with the attendant risks.
“This is Nigeria’s poorest UTME performance since 2016.The worst performance over a two-year period occurred in 2021, when 87.2% of the candidates scored below 200 marks. The second worst performance occurred in 2020, when 79.2% of the candidates scored below 281.”
Ogunbanwo Olufemi wondered why some of the examinations were scheduled for 6:30am, not minding security concerns. He expressed dismay that JAMB withheld the results of candidates who are under 16 years of age, despite an earlier resolution of the House, suspending the policy barring such candidates from admission.
The 2025 UTME results have faced widespread condemnations and rejections just after Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) released them. According to the breakdown, more than 78 percent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of 400 points.
Many candidates alleged technical error and infrastructure deficiencies in many centres as reasons for the mass failure.
In a swift response, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said the results of 379,997 candidates were affected. He explained that the board discovered discrepancies linked to faulty server updates in its Lagos and south-east zones.
He said the glitches led to the failure to upload candidates’ responses during the first three days of the examination.
Oloyede said the technical glitches on the part of some technical service providers were responsible for the mass failure, went undetected before the results were released.
The affected candidates will now have the opportunity to retake the examination between today and May 19.