Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has dismissed allegations of ethnic sabotage in the technical error that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The UTME results, released on May 9, revealed that over 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 points. Following public outcry, JAMB initiated an internal review, which uncovered a significant technical fault.
According to Oloyede, the responses of 379,997 candidates from 157 centres—mainly across Lagos and the south-east—failed to upload properly due to faulty server updates during the first three days of the exam. He attributed the issue to one of JAMB’s technical service providers and confirmed that it went undetected until after the results were published.
To address the situation, JAMB organized a resit examination beginning May 16 and continuing beyond May 19 for the affected candidates.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on May 14 in Abuja, Oloyede refuted claims of ethnic bias and responded to calls for his resignation. He emphasized that the error was purely human and not influenced by any ethnic agenda.
“I’m not interested in the ethnic identity of those who committed the mistake,” he stated. “There was no sabotage, no glitch—just a human error by certain individuals. Whether they are Igbo or not is irrelevant. What matters is that they are diligent workers for the service providers. They made a mistake, and we rectified it. I’ve accepted responsibility on behalf of everyone.”
On April 19, the south-east caucus in the House of Representatives demanded Oloyede’s resignation and called for the cancellation of the 2025 UTME, citing the disproportionate impact of the error on south-east candidates. The House later resolved on May 15 to launch an official investigation into the incident.
While some stakeholders continue to allege an ethnic conspiracy, JAMB maintains that the problem was a non-discriminatory technical failure that has now been addressed.