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JAMB Announces Special Mop-Up UTME for Over 5% of Absentee Candidates — Here’s What You Should Know!

For applicants who were unable to attend the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which was held on April 24, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced plans to administer an additional mop-up exam.

Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the JAMB Registrar, made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja while meeting with important stakeholders to discuss problems that arose during the 2025 UTME.

The board claims that in order to accommodate the projected 5.6% of candidates who were unable to take the exam earlier this year, the mop-up exam was decided to be held.

For people with one problem or another, we typically host one mop-up across the country. However, we are developing a new mop-up this time. We will give everyone this chance, even those who were unable to attend the previous exam.

We simply don’t tolerate misuse of it; it’s not that we’re doing anything out of the ordinary; in class, you make up an exam when students miss it for any reason. Therefore, we will permit all applicants who were unable to attend the main exam for any reason to participate in this mop-up,” Oloyede stated.

Background

On May 5th, JAMB published the statistical analysis of the 2025 UTME results, which showed that 71,701 applicants did not show up for the test.

Only 21.5% of the more than 1.95 million candidates who took the test received a score higher than 200, according to figures released by the board.

4,756 candidates received scores of 320 or above, 7,658 between 300 and 319, 73,441 between 250 and 299, and 334,560 between 200 and 249, according to the performance distribution. In contrast, 488,197 candidates received scores between 140 and 159, and 983,187 candidates received scores between 160 and 199. Approximately 78.5% of applicants received a score of 200 or lower overall.

The UTME is not a test of intelligence.

Prof. Oloyede clarified that the UTME is a placement test rather than an achievement test in order to dispel common misconceptions about it.

He noted that the purpose of the examination is to rank candidates for available spaces in institutions and not to measure intelligence or overall academic potential.
He added that while UTME scores are significant, they are not the sole determinant of admission into tertiary institutions.

He asserts that the final choice also takes into account a candidate’s success on school-based evaluations and post-UTME tests.

Conspiracy theories and criticisms are rejected

The JAMB chief denied claims that the board’s difficulties were the consequence of administrative error or racial prejudice in response to intense criticism that followed the announcement of UTME results.

“I want to be clear that I took responsibility for the task, not because I lack the necessary skills.

For the fourth time, I state that there is no conspiracy hypothesis that applies to this case. Something went awry, as in the case of someone who has been doing something well for years. That I should now blame them for it? “No,” Oloyede answered.

He advised Nigerians to refrain from profiling in the education sector and warned against using short-term challenges to further ethnic or conspiracy-driven narratives.

Oloyede recognized the tenacity of candidates and praised the JAMB team for their dedication in spite of the logistical and technical difficulties encountered during the 2025 UTME.

He pointed out that many of the students persisted in taking exams in spite of obstacles, which he said demonstrated their tenacity.