The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially released the results of its rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), bringing clarity to a controversy that shook the credibility of this year’s exam cycle.
In a statement issued early Sunday by Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, the board confirmed that results from the resit examination conducted for candidates affected by a technical glitch earlier in May are now available.
The glitch had compromised the results of nearly 380,000 candidates at 157 center’s across Lagos and the South-East, forcing the board to organise a second round of tests.
Out of the 336,845 candidates who were scheduled to take the resit exam, a significant 21,082 were absent. While no official reason was given for this absentee rate, JAMB announced a forthcoming mop-up exam to accommodate those who missed both the original and resit sessions, including those without documented justifications.
The release of the results followed a meeting of Chief External Examiners led by Prof. Olufemi Peters, with psychometric validation provided by Prof. Boniface Nworgu. The board also revealed that results for under-aged candidates, typically not eligible for admission, have been released, although these will not be considered for placement unless ongoing litigation dictates otherwise.
In what it described as a “healing process,” the board approved a one-time waiver for candidates involved in online exam malpractice, particularly those caught soliciting help via platforms like WhatsApp. While not condoning the behavior, JAMB said the move was meant to resolve all outstanding cases and warned candidates to steer clear of unregulated online groups going forward.
The board also came down hard on private Computer-Based Test (CBT) centers implicated in fraudulent practices. These centers will be blacklisted, and their proprietors prosecuted. JAMB said it uncovered evidence of identity fraud, including modified biometric data and doctored registration photos. Individuals found guilty of these infractions will face legal consequences.
Equally under fire are unregulated tutorial centers that have become hubs for exam malpractice. JAMB is urging the government to step in and regulate these outfits, which it believes are undermining the integrity of national assessments.
JAMB also pushed back against attempts to politicise the resit issue along ethnic lines. “This unfortunate incident was not targeted at any region,” the board emphasized, warning that tribal narratives only serve to deepen national divisions.
Finally, the board addressed social media misinformation, citing the example of Olisa Gabriel Chukwuemeka, who falsely claimed to have scored 326 in the 2025 UTME. Upon investigation, it was revealed that Chukwuemeka had altered his 2024 score of 203 and had actually scored 180 this year before the result was withdrawn. He has since taken down his social media accounts.
With the resit results now released and a mop-up exam in the works, attention turns to the admissions process.
