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By Olakunle Olafioye
Again, anxiety is mounting ahead of the April 16 commencement date of the 2026 Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB)-organised Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Widespread anger and frustration trailed Saturday March 28 UTME mock organised by the body to assess its readiness for the main examination slated to hold between April 16 and 25 this year. Reports of technical glitches, delayed commencement of the examination and outright cancellation of the exercise in some centres trailed the mock UTME, sending jitters down the spine of parents and candidates preparing for the examination this month.
Tales of glitches, disruptions, delay
One of the candidates who converged on the Holy Saviour School, Lafenwa, Itele in Ado-Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State for the examination said his experience on the fateful Saturday has elicited deep fear in him as he prepared for the main exam. The candidate, who simply identified himself as Ayomide, said he returned from the examination centre with more trepidation than he had before going.
According to Ayomide, while the examination was billed to commence a few minutes before 9:00 am, candidates were instructed not to start until a later period without any information as to what was responsible for the delay. “When we were finally asked to log in, using our registration numbers the system repeatedly displayed “unauthorised” access, forcing me to make multiple attempts before I was granted access. Subsequently, each time I selected an answer, the system would log me out, thus requiring that I restarted the process on multiple occasions.
“Whenever I logged in again to continue from where I stopped I discovered that the system failed to retain my previous answers and indicated that the questions had not been attempted, which meant that I had to start all over again. The persistent unstable network was another major issue. By the time the network eventually improved and we resumed answering questions, we were informed that the allotted time had elapsed,” Ayomide said dejectedly.
Another candidate at the centre, Rachael Oyedele, observed that the supervisors deployed for the examination failed to inspire any hope in the candidates who looked up to them for solutions to the glitches that stalled the process.
“Rather than assist on what should be done to solve the problems, they only heaped the blame on the candidates, suggesting that lack of prior CBT experience was responsible for the problems, despite the evident network instability and technical glitches,”
A similar frustrating scenario played out at Quiblaminds Comprehensive CBT Centre located at Ahmadiyyah, Abule Egba, Lagos where candidates who reported for the mock UTME were said to have been delayed for over seven hours before the exercise could commence. However when the examination eventually began, it was reported to have been marred by technical glitches resulting in the inability of many of the candidates to write the exam. In one extreme case, one of the candidates was said to have attempted only four questions before the server crashed, forcing the management of the centre to send students home around 3 p.m.
JAMB admits responsibility
Reacting swiftly to the frustrating experience of the candidates during the mock examination, JAMB in its Monday, March 30 Bulletin admitted that there were lapses which the exercise was intended to expose before the main examination. The examination body promised a comprehensive review of the identified lapses.
JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin who described the Mock UTME as largely successful admitted that technical failure disrupted the exercise in a few centres. “While the exercise was largely successful, a few centres experienced technical failures. This underscores the importance of the mock examination, which allows candidates to familiarise themselves with the Computer-Based Test environment and enables the Board to assess its level of preparedness,” the statement said.
The examination body also explained that the 2026 mock exercise featured two sessions: a primary mock examination and a second session to provide candidates with additional hands-on practice. Centres that failed during the exercise, the board noted, would be delisted. It therefore urged the candidates to leverage the experience gained to navigate the main UTME, slated to begin on April 16, 2026.
This is not the first time JAMB has admitted responsibility for failure. Last year, following the public outcry that trailed the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results where over 1.5 out of the 1.9 million who sat for the year’s UTME scored below 200 marks, the Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede appealed to all stakeholders to forgive the examination body for what he described as inadvertent failure of the board to update some of the delivery servers in the process of rectifying some of the issues identified in the course of the examination.
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Speaking during a press briefing to address the issue at JAMB headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, Professor Oloyede said in the process of rectifying some of the issues identified in the course of the examination, the technical personnel deployed by the Service Provider for Lagos and South-East zones inadvertently failed to update some of the delivery servers. Students affected by the development were later allowed to re-sit the examination.
Cause for alarm
Although JAMB has enumerated a list of actions to be taken to address the lapses noted during the UTME Mock, doubts still persist about the board’s assurances and the promise to turn the situation around before the commencement date of the main examination. In what is considered a record-breaking number of applicants, according to JAMB, a total of 2,243,816 candidates applied to sit the 2026 UTME. Out of this figure, only 284,000, approximately 13 per cent of the total registered candidates, indicated interest in writing the UTME mock.
Some analysts are of the opinion that JAMB failed to inspire confidence in Nigerians following the inability of the board to manage a fraction of the applicants who put in for the mock. An educationist, Mrs. Mary Okoh, who made this observation, said Nigerians are already disappointed by the turn out of event during the mock. “The point we find ourselves now, as parents, is to resort to prayers and hope that things will work out in favour of our children who are going to write the examination. As it is now, it is no longer totally in the hands of the candidates. What do I mean by this? Apart from preparing hard for the exams, they have to back their preparations up with serious prayers because if you study very hard for the exam but on getting into the exam hall you are faced with issues such as witnessed during the mock examination, what becomes of your preparations?” she asked.
Another parent, Mr. Abdul-basit Shorounmu explained that time might not be on the side of the examination board to address the lapses noticed during last weekend’s mock examination. According to Shorounmi, the period between the end of 2025 UTME and the beginning of 2026 edition should serve as a planning period for the board; and a time to review past performance in order to be able to plan for the future.
His words: “My view about this issue is that JAMB failed to learn from past mistakes. After the lapses noticed in previous outings the examination body ought to have improved on its performance if indeed lessons were learned from past mistakes. A reputable body like JAMB cannot afford to close shop after every examination and reopen the following year when it is time to conduct another examination. No! Things will not work out that way. The time between the end of one examination and the beginning of the next one should be devoted to reviewing past performance; to identify lapses recorded and to find lasting solutions to these lapses in order to prevent re-occurrence in future. Personally, I am not sure we are likely to see a different performance from JAMB at the end of the day.”
Some students who spoke with Sunday Sun also expressed concerns about the upcoming examination after the disappointment recorded during the UTME mock. Seventeen-year-old Mariam Ayinla who sat for the 2025 UTME but failed to secure admission said her inability to make the 2025 admission cut was down to similar technical glitches experienced at her centre last year. Unfortunately, according to her, she never had the opportunity to re-sit the exam as the invitation for a re-sit was not extended to her.
Mariam confessed that she is approaching the upcoming UTME with depleted confidence level as she is unsure of what awaits her in the examination hall. “Success at UTME these days does not depend on how studious or how brilliant you are anymore. Last year when I was about to write my first UTME I was confident to a very good extent because I knew I had prepared hard for it. But on getting to the centre a lot of things happened which really affected my performance. It has since dawned on me that getting good UTME scores is not entirely a function of hard work. In addition to being serious with your studies, one needs a great deal of luck and prayers against unexpected and unfavourable issues while writing the exam,” she submitted.
Way forward
An educationist, Mr. Taofik Sumonu said the perennial challenges being encountered in the conduct of UTME with the CBT option are not insurmountable. He, however, called on the examination body to guard against errors and technical lapses that may pose a threat to the integrity of of the outcomes of examination.
“The UTME is a high-stake examination that plays a major defining role in the academic future of young Nigerians. As such, the integrity, reliability, and fairness in the conduct of the examination must be beyond reproach,” he said.
As a way of guarding against the recurrence of the problems identified so far, Sunmonu urged the examination body to ensure that strict pre-examination system checks are carried out before each session of the examination to minimize avoidable failures. He also called for on JAMB to ensure that only CBT centres with reliable infrastructure get accreditation.
“In addition, JAMB must optimise examination software to prevent automatic logouts and ensure real-time saving of candidates’ responses. There is also the need to introduce a time-compensation mechanism to account for verified technical interruptions during the examination as well as making adequate provision for enhanced technical training for supervisors and invigilators to enable them respond effectively to challenges. It is equally important to review the practice of multiple daily examination sessions to prevent system overload and ensure uniform candidate experience,” Sunmonu suggested.
