The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially acknowledged that errors occurred during the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), affecting the performance of many candidates.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosure during a press conference held on Wednesday in Abuja.
“What should have been a moment of joy has changed due to one or two errors,” he stated.
The UTME is a mandatory examination for students seeking admission into tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
It includes four subjects, with English Language as a compulsory component, and three others related to the candidate’s chosen course of study.
This year, over 1.9 million candidates sat for the examination. However, statistics revealed a troubling trend, with more than 1.5 million candidates scoring below 200 out of a possible 400 marks.
According to JAMB, results were processed for 1,955,069 candidates. Of this number, only 4,756 candidates (0.24%) scored 320 and above. An additional 7,658 (0.39%) scored between 300 and 319, bringing the total number of candidates who scored 300 and above to just 12,414 (0.63%).
Further analysis shows:
73,441 candidates (3.76%) scored between 250 and 299
334,560 (17.11%) scored between 200 and 249
983,187 (50.29%) scored between 160 and 199, often considered the minimum threshold for admission
488,197 (24.97%) scored between 140 and 159
57,419 (2.94%) scored between 120 and 139