The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that results for 379,997 candidates who sat for the rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be officially released on Wednesday, May 21.
This development comes after a turbulent first round of UTME marred by technical and human errors, particularly in examination centres located in Lagos and across the South-East.
JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the update while addressing journalists on Monday.
“The results of the candidates who took the rescheduled exam will be released on Wednesday,” he said, adding that the board has put in place measures to avoid a repeat of the disruptions.
According to the board, the makeup examination was necessary to address the widespread technical glitches and allegations of deliberate sabotage that tainted the initial exam exercise.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who earlier took full responsibility for the lapses, was reportedly emotional during his announcement of the rescheduled examination.
“We sincerely apologise to all affected candidates and their families,” Prof. Oloyede stated. “Our intention was never to subject candidates to such hardship. However, we could not overlook the irregularities that occurred.”
He revealed that out of the nearly 380,000 candidates who retook the test, 206,610 were from 65 centres in Lagos State, while 173,387 were drawn from 92 centres across the South-East.
“The scale of the disruption was alarming. We have reasons to believe that some of these issues were acts of sabotage,” the Registrar added.
Candidates affected by the issues were notified of the rescheduled dates via text messages beginning from last Thursday.
This year’s UTME has already drawn significant national attention, particularly following reports that more than 1.5 million out of the 1,955,069 total candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 marks.
A performance breakdown shows that only 4,756 candidates, representing 0.24 percent, scored 320 and above, while 7,658 candidates, or 0.39 percent, scored between 300 and 319. Further analysis revealed that 12,414 candidates, about 0.63 percent, scored 300 and above. A total of 73,441 candidates scored between 250 and 299, while 334,560 scored between 200 and 249. A significantly high number of candidates — 983,187 — scored between 160 and 199. Meanwhile, 488,197 candidates scored between 140 and 159, 57,419 scored between 120 and 139, 3,820 scored between 100 and 119, and 2,031 scored below 100.
The shocking result pattern has sparked national discourse on the integrity and fairness of the examination.
JAMB has, however, reiterated its commitment to upholding transparency and fairness in its examination processes.
“We remain resolute in our duty to ensure that no candidate is shortchanged. Every score released must reflect the candidate’s true performance,” said Dr. Benjamin.