UTME Candidates Plan to Sue JAMB Over Mass Failure Caused by Technical Glitches!

Following several allegations of technical issues and missing questions that allegedly tainted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), thousands of applicants are preparing to sue the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

More than 1.5 million of the 1.9 million students who took this year’s UTME scored lower than 200 out of 400, according to JAMB’s announcement last week.

The country was alarmed by the result, as Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa said that the widespread failure demonstrated JAMB’s successful anti-malpractice efforts.

However, Alex Onyia, the CEO of Educare and a well-known education advocate, declared on Sunday that legal action against JAMB would start at the Federal High Court on Monday.

According to Onyia, more than 8,000 impacted students had filed formal complaints, urging JAMB to make comprehensive marking sheets available so that applicants could check their results.

“As of right now, 8,391 students have complained about the JAMB 2025 exam’s glitches,” Onyia wrote on his @winexv X (previously Twitter) page. “The inefficiency of JAMB’s system, which caused significant harm to these students’ mental health, is well-documented.”

He went on: “JAMB is expected to display all students’ mark sheets so they can see their results, including what they failed, the right answers, and an easy way to contest them.” These students’ futures are on the line.

The dispute follows JAMB’s formal announcement of the 2025 UTME results on Friday.

Concerns about mass failure were raised nationwide when the Board reported that almost 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates received scores below 200, which is less than half of the possible total score of 400.

Parents and applicants have blamed JAMB’s technological shortcomings, despite Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa’s assertion that the outcome demonstrated the government’s effectiveness in reducing exam cheating.

“During the examination, I noticed that some of my questions were missing for my Use of English,” a candidate who took the test at a CBT center in Maitama, Abuja, told The PUNCH.

The problem wasn’t unique to me, so I sounded the alarm. When I received my results, I received a score of 170. JAMB has not responded to the unanswered questions.

Another applicant who took the test on April 26 expressed her surprise at her score.

“I received 173 this year, compared to 287 last year. On the same day, numerous additional writers expressed dissatisfaction with the incompleteness of their English queries. This is not my outcome.

Additionally, a parent demanded a review, stating: “We demand a remark from JAMB.” With scores below 200, these pupils are outstanding. Numerous people voiced their displeasure with unfinished questions and other technical problems. JAMB has remained silent. It is impossible to ignore this.

In the meantime, JAMB has not yet released a formal statement addressing the particular grievances brought forth by candidates.

As of the time this story was filed, attempts to get in touch with Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s spokesperson, for comments failed.