Mass failure: Thousands of UTME candidates to sue JAMB over results

Thousands of candidates who sat the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination are set to file a lawsuit against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) following widespread complaints of technical glitches and incomplete questions that allegedly marred the exam.

JAMB announced that more than 1.5 million out of 1.9 million candidates, representing about 79 per cent scored below 200.

A breakdown of the results further revealed that the total number of candidates who scored 300 and above is 12,414, representing less than one per cent.

The outcome raised concern in the country, with the candidates and families taking to social media to call on JAMB to review the results.

However, JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, maintained that the candidates’ results reflected their performance while the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, asserted that the mass failure showed effective anti-malpractice efforts by the board.

Popular education advocate and Chief Executive Officer of Educare, Alex Onyia, announced on Sunday that legal proceedings would commence at the Federal High Court on Monday against JAMB.

According to Onyia, over 8,000 affected students had submitted formal complaints, calling on JAMB to release detailed marking sheets and allow candidates to verify their scores.

“Currently, we have 8,391 students who have sent in their complaints regarding the glitches in the JAMB 2025 exam,” Onyia posted on his X (formerly Twitter) page, @winexv. “There is ample evidence to prove that JAMB’s system was inefficient, thereby causing serious harm to these students’ mental health,” he said.

“The demand is for JAMB to show all the students their mark sheets to view their results—what they failed, the correct answers, and a seamless way to dispute it. The destinies of these students are at stake.”

A candidate who sat the examination at a CBT centre in Maitama, Abuja, told the punch: “During the examination, for my Use of English, I noticed that some of my questions were missing. I raised the alarm, and I wasn’t the only one with the issue. When my result came out, I scored 170. JAMB has not addressed the missing questions.”

Another candidate who wrote the exam on April 26 said she was shocked by her result.

“Last year I scored 287, this year I got 173. Many others who wrote on the same day complained that their English questions were incomplete. This result is not mine.”

A parent also called for a review, saying: “We demand a remark from JAMB. These are exceptional students scoring below 200. Many complained of incomplete questions and other technical issues. JAMB has said nothing. This cannot be swept under the rug.”