‘Huge structural failures’ – Stakeholders react as Oloyede ends 2025 UTME blame-game,
By Joseph Erunke
On behalf of JAMB, I say I am sorry to all Nigerians.” With these words,the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, conceded in the blame and counter-blame that had trailed the poor performance of candidates in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
Before admitting that JAMB was responsible in the candidates’ performance, Oloyede explained that the excellent preparations earlier put up by his organisation were marred by technical glitches,an explanation which differed from the hasty attribution by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, to stringent anti-malpractice measures put in place by JAMB. The admission of error by JAMB, countering Alausa’s position,
confirms the belief in some quarters that leaders in the country don’t always carry out proper examination of issues before coming to conclusion.
And more than 78 hours after JAMB admitted fault with its Registrar fighting tears while explaining details of how it happened. The Minister of Education is yet to comment on the development that has put him in the spotlight following his earlier submission. Even his office is maintaining sealed lips on the issue that most Nigerians are eagerly waiting for his response.
The development has attracted reactions of stakeholders in the education sector with each offering different perspectives.
A stakeholder in the nation’s education sector and Initiator, Creative Change Centre,Omole Ibukun, speaking on the issue, asked Nigerians not to forget or forgive the errors in the 2025 UTME just because of acknowledgement of responsibility by the JAMB Registrar.
Ibukun advised that the only way out of the perennial problem is for the country to address the huge structural failures behind the constant glitches in the UTME, failure of which he said the country would be doing a disservice to the next generation.
He said:”The effect of the technical glitches in the just concluded UTME cannot be forgiven and forgotten just because the JAMB Registrar acknowledged responsibility and cried on national media. If we stop at that acknowledgement and do not address the structural failures behind the constant glitches in the UTME, we will be doing a disservice to the next generation.
“The main problem of the examination system is the underfunding of education, including the underfunding of the human and material resources needed to make the best out of the examination system. This is what has made it possible for corruption to lower the standards of CBT centers, and many years of experience with the computer-based version of the examination.
“In the immediate future, a democratic probe of the processes and standards of the UTME must be carried out to include representatives of students, parents and the Nigerian people, so as to make the examination work effectively to prepare students for a critical education that will open their minds to make the country a better place.”
On his part, the National Mobilization Officer of Education Rights Campaign, Adaramoye Michael Lenin,said the JAMB Registrar’s tears are not enough to address the board’s inefficiency.
Noting that Oloyede’s admission of error is a product of public outcry that greeted the mass failure recorded in the examination, which he said, has become an annual occurrence, Lenin said, “Probably, left to Oloyede and his team, they would have continued to live in denial while placing the blame on innocent candidates.”
He recalled:”Immediately the statistics of the results were released, without any logical and critical appraisal of the results, Oloyede and his men were happily making rhetoric, declaring students as unserious and suggesting that JAMB is infallible and perfect in its ways; even when, according to their new revelation, they had not reviewed the results.”
“This is why Nigerians must not be moved by the crocodile tears shed by Oloyode after swallowing his pride and accepting that there were errors made,” Lenin said.
“ As Oloyede himself alluded to, these errors could have been avoided if the examination body had been thorough and meticulous with the process including the conduct and also carrying out a prompt review before releasing the results. But, instead, JAMB was more interested in self-exaltation despite its obvious failure.”
The protem National Coordinator of Youth Rights Campaign, on his part, commended the decision of JAMB to relist the 379,997 affected candidates from Lagos and South-east states of Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra, for a fresh examination.
“However, we are of the opinion that this must not be rushed. The Registrar already declared that the fresh exams would commence on Friday, May 16, 2025. We believe this leaves many of the affected candidates with no time to prepare adequately both mentally and physically, and also many of the candidates are already engaged in the WAEC examination (SSCE).
“The excuse of the Registrar that since the WAEC examination is ongoing, the candidates are already prepared for a fresh JAMB exam is fallacious.”
For the SSCE, a candidate sits for one subject at a time but for UTME it is four subjects. So, even with quite similar syllabi, SSCE and UTME are different exams that require different levels of preparation before an exam date. For us in the ERC, we believe that candidates who are already affected by the inefficiency of JAMB should not be subjected to another problem; therefore, we propose that the fresh exam is conducted after the conclusion of the ongoing SSCE in June. In any case, by the calendar of most tertiary institutions, the earliest time for a new academic session is September, and so, there are still July and August to prepare for the admission process.
“Also, JAMB must provide financial compensation for all the affected students to cover logistics and other costs incurred. JAMB has always been more interested in being a revenue-generating agency via outrageous UTME fees and other fees, rather than focusing on its primary aim of conducting quality examinations. There is no reason why financial compensation cannot be made to all affected candidates.”
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By Joseph Erunke On behalf of JAMB, I say I am sorry to all Nigerians.” With these words,the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, conceded in the blame and counter-blame that had trailed the poor performance of candidates in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME. Before admitting that […]
The post ‘Huge structural failures’ – Stakeholders react as Oloyede ends 2025 UTME blame-game appeared first on Vanguard News.
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