Thousands of students who took the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are preparing to sue the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), citing widespread complaints about technology issues and incomplete questions that purportedly marred the exam.
Last Monday, JAMB stated that more than 1.5 million of the 1.9 million students who took this year’s UTME scored less than 200 out of a possible 400 points.
The outcome sparked worry in the country, with Minister of Education Dr Tunji Alausa claiming that the widespread failure demonstrated JAMB’s strong anti-malpractice efforts.
However, popular education advocate and Educare CEO Alex Onyia declared on Sunday that legal proceedings against JAMB would begin on Monday in the Federal High Court.
Onyia said that more than 8,000 affected UTME candidates have filed formal complaints, urging JAMB to produce full marking sheets and allow candidates to verify their results.
“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 page, @winexv. “There is ample evidence to prove that JAMB’s system was inefficient, thereby causing serious harm to these students’ mental health.”
“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,” he added.
Following the release of the 2025 UTME results by JAMB on Friday, over 1.5 million out of 1.9 million candidates scored below 200, less than half the total obtainable score of 400.
This has raised national concerns about mass failure. The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has claimed that the results reflect the government’s success in curbing exam malpractice, but candidates and parents have pointed fingers.
A candidate who sat the exam at a CBT centre in Maitama, Abuja, told the press, “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 stated that 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.”
At the time of filing this report, JAMB has yet to issue an official response addressing the specific complaints raised by candidates.
