The House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to launch an investigation into the technical error that led to the mass failure in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Rep. Adewale Adebayo from Osun State.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had released the 2025 UTME results on May 9, revealing an unusually high rate of failure, with over 78% of candidates scoring less than 200 out of 400.
Following an initial review, JAMB identified a major technical error. At a press conference held in Abuja on Wednesday, JAMB Registrar Ishaq Oloyede explained that the results of 379,997 candidates were affected due to server issues.
According to Oloyede, “faulty server updates in JAMB’s Lagos and South-East zones disrupted the upload of candidates’ responses during the first three days of the examination.” He clarified that the error was caused by one of the board’s two technical service providers and went undetected before the release of the initial results.
To address the issue, the registrar announced that all affected candidates would be given an opportunity to retake the examination between May 16 and May 19, 2025.
While presenting the motion, Rep. Adebayo noted that many candidates and their families endured long-distance travels to examination centers, only to face unexpected failures. He urged the House to probe the technical lapses to avoid future incidents.
In support of the motion, Sada Soli, a lawmaker from Katsina, commended the JAMB Registrar for his transparency in admitting the error and apologizing to Nigerians. He also praised Oloyede for “improving the board’s revenue since his appointment.”
However, Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, said it would be up to the investigative committee to determine “whether or not to officially commend the JAMB Registrar for his actions.”
The motion was unanimously adopted through a voice vote.
In addition to the investigation, the House urged the Federal Government to: Establish Computer-Based Test (CBT) centers in all Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the country to improve access to examination venues, Instruct JAMB to release the results of candidates under 16 years old, which had previously been withheld.
