UTME: “Fix the system, restore trust” – Reps deputy speaker tells JAMB

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to urgently overhaul its systems and restore public confidence following widespread technical failures during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Kalu commended JAMB’s leadership for admitting to the glitches that affected nearly 380,000 candidates, mostly in Lagos and Nigeria’s South-East region, but insisted that transparency and accountability must go further.

“These corrective measures, though commendable, do not erase the trauma, anxiety, and uncertainty our young citizens and their families have experienced,” Kalu said.

A technical review by JAMB, alongside findings from independent groups such as the Educare Technical Team, confirmed that a critical system patch meant to support new examination protocols was not deployed to server clusters servicing 157 centres, 92 in the South-East and 65 in Lagos.

This failure affected the answer validation and scoring processes for close to 380,000 candidates.

JAMB had introduced three key reforms for the 2025 UTME: source-based answer validation, full-scale shuffling of questions and answer options, and performance optimization upgrades.

While these were successfully implemented in some clusters, including those in Kaduna, the Lagos server cluster, which also supports centres in the South-East, was not updated in time.

“This was not a failure of our students. It was a preventable human error within our systems,” Kalu declared.

Although the Board offered resits for affected candidates, the Deputy Speaker noted several ongoing concerns, including poor communication, exam clashes with WAEC, long-distance travel, and psychological strain.

Kalu urged JAMB to conduct a comprehensive technical review of both internal and external reports and commission an independent audit of JAMB’s examination systems and infrastructure.

He also urged the exam body to protect affected candidates from further academic disruption through a robust appeals and remark process, ensure transparency and deploy real-time monitoring systems to ensure uniform server updates and performance assurance in future examinations.

He pledged the National Assembly’s continued oversight to prevent future occurrences.

He said: “Our young people deserve an educational framework that is fair, transparent, resilient, and worthy of their trust. Let this crisis serve as a turning point.”