 are preparing to take legal action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).){kind=link}
Thousands of candidates from the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are preparing to take legal action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) following widespread complaints about technical problems and missing exam questions that reportedly disrupted the examination.
Last week, JAMB revealed that out of the 1.9 million students who took this year’s UTME, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of a maximum 400 marks.
This high rate of low scores has raised alarms across the country, with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, attributing the results to the success of the government’s anti-malpractice measures.
However, education advocate Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare, announced on Sunday that legal action will be initiated against JAMB at the Federal High Court on Monday.
Onyia revealed that more than 8,000 affected students have formally complained about the exam’s technical issues and are demanding that JAMB release detailed score sheets for verification.
“We currently have 8,391 students who have lodged complaints about glitches in the JAMB 2025 exam,” Onyia wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account, @winexv. “We have strong evidence that the system malfunctioned, causing significant mental strain for these students. JAMB must release the full breakdown of their marks, showing correct answers and allowing candidates to dispute errors.”
The controversy follows the release of the 2025 UTME results on Friday. In addition to the concerns about low scores, many candidates reported technical failures during the examination, especially missing questions.
A student who took the exam at a CBT center in Maitama, Abuja, said that several questions in the Use of English section were not available.
“I reported the issue, but nothing was done. My score was 170, but my exam wasn’t complete,” the candidate stated.
Another candidate who wrote the exam on April 26 was equally disturbed by the outcome.
“I scored 287 last year, but this year, I ended up with 173. Many students who sat the exam on the same day faced issues with incomplete questions, especially in English. This result isn’t accurate,” she said.
Parents have also expressed frustration. One parent called for a thorough review of the results, highlighting that many students who had previously excelled were now scoring poorly.
“These are bright students who have suddenly dropped below 200. We need JAMB to review these scores. This issue can’t be ignored,” the parent said.
JAMB has not yet responded to the specific complaints from candidates. Attempts to contact the board’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, for a statement were unsuccessful at the time of this report.