JAMB Registrar Oloyede Considered Resignation After UTME Glitch Shakes Public Confidence

 

A serious technical mishap during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has triggered nationwide concerns, with the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, revealing he briefly contemplated stepping down over the incident.

The glitch, which impacted the integrity of thousands of candidates' results, sparked outrage from candidates, parents, and education stakeholders alike. Released on May 9, the 2025 UTME results showed a sharp decline in candidate performance—more than 78 percent of examinees scored below 200 out of a total 400 marks. That revelation fueled speculation about systemic failure within JAMB’s technical infrastructure.

An internal review launched in the wake of the public backlash uncovered a critical fault originating from one of JAMB’s technical service providers. A server update—meant to improve operations—unexpectedly resulted in failure to upload student responses during the first three days of the examination. The error slipped under the radar until after scores were made public.

Speaking during a stakeholders' meeting in Abuja with civil society groups, chief external examiners, and education officials, Oloyede addressed the controversy with frankness. He confirmed that a total of 379,997 candidates were affected across 157 examination centres in Lagos and the South-East. The impact was severe enough to cast doubt on the credibility of the entire examination cycle.

"At the moment the issue came to light, my immediate instinct was to resign," Oloyede confessed. "I felt the weight of responsibility. But I was urged to reconsider. People told me the candidates would feel abandoned in their moment of need, and that stepping down would appear as though I was walking away from a crisis I had a duty to help resolve."

The board responded by organizing a resit examination for affected candidates, which commenced on May 16 and extended beyond May 19. This effort, JAMB said, was aimed at restoring fairness and ensuring that students whose responses were not recorded were given a second opportunity.

Oloyede also responded to accusations of ethnic bias and sabotage. While acknowledging the sensitivity of such claims, he dismissed them as unfounded and counterproductive, emphasizing that the technical malfunction was not geographically targeted but rather a byproduct of a flawed update process.

The Registrar’s decision to remain in office, he explained, was rooted in a commitment to accountability rather than evasion of blame. “I am not above criticism, and I accept responsibility. But resigning at the height of confusion would not solve the problem; fixing it is the true test of leadership,” he told the gathering.

JAMB has since assured the public that measures are being put in place to prevent such failures in the future, including more stringent checks on vendor updates and server configurations during examination periods. Stakeholders at the meeting urged the board to strengthen its oversight of technical partners and improve communication with the public in times of crisis.

As the resit process winds down and attention shifts toward restoring confidence in the examination system, the 2025 UTME episode stands as a sobering reminder of the vulnerability of digital testing platforms and the importance of transparency in public institutions.