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Thousands of participants of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination are planning to take legal action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) due to widespread reports of technical issues and incomplete questions that reportedly affected the exam.
Recently, JAMB revealed that over 1.5 million out of the 1.9 million candidates who took the exam scored below 200 out of a maximum of 400 marks.
This outcome has raised alarms nationally, with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, claiming that the large number of failures indicates the effectiveness of JAMB’s measures against exam malpractice.
Education advocate and CEO of Educare, Alex Onyia, announced on Sunday that legal action would be initiated at the Federal High Court against JAMB.
Onyia disclosed that more than 8,000 affected candidates had lodged formal complaints, urging JAMB to provide detailed marking sheets and give candidates the chance to verify their scores.
“At present, we have 8,391 students who have submitted complaints regarding the glitches encountered during the JAMB 2025 exam,”
Onyia shared on his social media platform. “There is significant evidence suggesting that JAMB's system was not efficient, which has severely impacted these students' mental well-being.”
He added, “We are requesting JAMB to show all students their mark sheets, revealing their answers, the correct solutions, and an accessible way to contest them. The futures of these students are at stake.”
This issue arises just after JAMB officially released the results for the 2025 UTME last Friday.
Reports highlighted that over 1.5 million candidates scored below 200, which is less than half of the total possible score of 400, leading to national concerns about widespread failure. While Dr. Alausa described the results as reflective of the government's effectiveness in combating exam malpractice, candidates and their families are attributing the failures to JAMB's technological malfunctions.
One candidate from a CBT center in Abuja, recounted, “During the test, I noticed that some questions were missing in my Use of English section. I raised the concern and found other students had the same problem. When my result was released, I scored 170, yet JAMB hasn’t addressed my missing questions.”
Another examinee who took the test on April 26 expressed disbelief over her result: “I scored 287 last year but got only 173 this year. Many who tested the same day said their English questions were incomplete.
This result doesn’t belong to me.” A concerned parent also called for a review, stating, “We seek a remark from JAMB.
These are capable students receiving scores under 200. Numerous complaints have arisen about incomplete questions and other technical problems. JAMB has remained silent on this. It cannot be ignored.”
As of now, JAMB has not provided an official response to the specific concerns raised by candidates. Efforts to contact JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, for comments were unsuccessful at the time of this report.
