A detailed technical review conducted by the Educare Technical Team has revealed that human error—not systemic failure or manipulation—was responsible for the widespread issues that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), affecting nearly 380,000 candidates nationwide.
The revelation was made during a high-level session held at the headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday, May 14. The emergency meeting, led by JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, was convened following public outcry over the unexpectedly poor performance of candidates and mounting concerns about the integrity of the examination process.
According to a report Educare’s Tech Team signed by, Engr. James Nnanyelugo, the crisis stemmed from a critical deployment oversight during the rollout of new examination technologies.
“This was not a failure of the entire system. It was a clear case of human error in deploying critical updates to all server clusters,” Engr. Nnanyelugo stated.
“The servers in the Lagos and South-East zones were running outdated software that could not handle the new scoring logic. That affected 157 centres and nearly 380,000 candidates.”
A Shift in Scoring Logic and System Enhancements
JAMB had introduced three major changes for the 2025 UTME: a transition from count-based to source-based answer validation, full-scale randomization of both questions and answer options, and backend performance enhancements aimed at reducing lag during exams.
While these innovations were successfully implemented in the Kaduna (KAD) server cluster, the Educare report confirmed that the patch was not deployed to the Lagos (LAG) cluster, which serves centres across Lagos and the South-East.
“As a result, these centres processed candidates’ answers with the old logic, leading to widespread mismatches and poor scores,” said Nnanyelugo.
Evidence from Independent Data Analysis
To verify the scope of the issue, Educare analyzed over 18,000 candidate records and confirmed that more than 14,000 of them were from the affected zones. These findings were corroborated by JAMB’s internal audit and logs.
“There was a clear overlap between our independent analysis and JAMB’s system records,” Nnanyelugo added.
“The technical root cause has been identified, and we are confident that corrective actions are now in motion.”
JAMB Acknowledges Error, Offers Retake
Following the review, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Oloyede, addressed the media and offered a public apology to candidates and their families.
“We sincerely regret the oversight and the distress it caused. It was an unfortunate deployment error that we should have caught earlier,” Oloyede said.
“All affected candidates will be allowed to retake the examination at no cost to them.”
He added that JAMB had already coordinated with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to avoid timetable clashes with ongoing SSCE exams. Affected candidates are advised to reprint their examination slips by Friday, May 17, to confirm their new exam schedules.
In an official statement titled “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” JAMB also included a section labeled “Appeal, Appreciation, and Apology,” reiterating its commitment to fairness, transparency, and continuous system improvement.
Moving Forward: Lessons and Reforms
The Educare report concluded that while JAMB’s system remains fundamentally sound, better deployment validation and real-time monitoring mechanisms are urgently needed.
“This incident should serve as a wake-up call. It’s not just about having the right technology—it’s about ensuring rigorous checks at every stage of implementation,” said Nnanyelugo.
JAMB’s decision to open its systems to independent review was praised as a step toward restoring public trust.
“When institutions acknowledge their errors and take corrective action transparently, they reinforce their credibility,” Nnanyelugo added.
The review brings clarity to the 2025 UTME controversy and offers a roadmap for safeguarding the integrity of future national examinations.
