SOCIAL LISTENING 21 MAY 2025
The misadventure represented by the 2025 UTME examinations 1 and 2 continued to fuel anger across the land over the weekend. It deteriorated due to the poor handling of the resit examination on 17 May 2025.
The anger is palpable on social media.
The disproportionate effect on one out of the six geo-zones of the country stood out like a sore thumb. Incoherent and incompetent official responses exacerbated the situation. As the matter takes the Nigerian slide to ethnicism, no one in officialdom is addressing it with circumspection.
JAMB 2025 UTME: Exam Glitches, Resit, and Widespread Discontent
Technical failures and a crisis of confidence among candidates and parents have tarnished the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). JAMB’s efforts to address the situation through resits, expanded support, and public admissions of error have not fully alleviated public anger, especially as logistical and psychological challenges persist for affected students. Poorly constructed lines from JAMB’s social media handles tend to confirm allegations of bigotry and hate.
What South-East Senators Said About JAMB 2025
South-East senators expressed strong concerns and dissatisfaction about the technical glitches that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), particularly since these issues disproportionately affected all centres in the South-East and some in Lagos.
Key Points from the South-East Senate Caucus:
• Condemnation of the Glitch: The senators described the JAMB examination glitch as “curious and highly suspicious” and declared it unacceptable, warning that it erodes national pride and undermines confidence in the examination system.
• Potential for Deliberate Harm: While stopping short of fully endorsing conspiracy theories, the caucus expressed that it would be “disheartening” to consider the possibility of a narrow agenda aimed at deliberately short-changing and harming the future of children in the region. They emphasised that the glitch affecting the entire South-East raises serious questions that JAMB must answer to address the growing frustrations and fears.
• Warning Against Recurrence: The senators clearly demanded firm assurances from JAMB and other relevant authorities that such a “scandalous glitch” will never occur again, stating that any recurrence will not be tolerated.
• Critique of “Hateful Politics”: The caucus attributed the situation to “injecting hateful politics and narrow parochial considerations in both policy enunciation and its implementations,” cautioning that this could threaten national unity and the educational advancement of South-East children.
• Recognition of JAMB’s Apology: The senators acknowledged the open declaration of regrets and the tearful apology by JAMB’s Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, but warned that public displays of penitence must not be used to mask deeper issues or future sinister agendas.
• Call for a Nigerian Agenda: The caucus emphasised the need to pursue a Nigerian agenda, not a narrow one that could injure national unity. They stressed that education is a fundamental right and a key driver of national progress, and must not be compromised by technical or political failures.
Summary Statement from the Caucus:
“The so-called glitch, as curious and suspicious as it may be, is enough to erode confidence and dangerously lower national pride among the future generation. Relevant national education authorities must recognise the inherent danger of injecting hateful politics and narrow parochial considerations into both policy formulation and implementation. We must pursue a Nigerian agenda, not a narrow one that could ultimately threaten national unity.”
The South-East senators remain on alert, under pressure from their constituents, and insist on concrete steps to ensure such disruptions do not occur again, safeguarding the educational future of children in the region.
What Happened?
• Over 1.9 million candidates took the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), but more than half scored below 200, marking the lowest performance since the introduction of Computer-Based Testing (CBT).
• Only 4,756 candidates scored 320 and above, while 12,414 candidates scored 300 and above, according to JAMB analysis.
• Candidates and parents reported widespread technical issues during the exams, including disappearing questions, incomplete test sessions, and system failures at 157 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres, particularly in Lagos and the Southeast states.
• JAMB’s post-exam review confirmed that a failed software update caused these glitches, affecting the integrity of results for approximately 300,000–380,000 candidates.
Public Reaction and Anger
• The release of results triggered outrage on social media, with hashtags like #ThisIsNotMyResult trending as students and parents questioned the fairness and accuracy of the scores.
• Some candidates are reportedly preparing to take legal action against JAMB, alleging that their results do not accurately reflect their actual performance due to technical malfunctions.
• Parents have expressed concerns about the emotional toll on candidates and the overlap with the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC), which complicates logistics for those who need to resit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB’s Response
• JAMB acknowledged the technical error and apologised publicly, with Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede expressing regret over the setback.
• The board announced a resit for over 300,000 affected candidates, starting May 16, 2025, and notified them via SMS, email, and phone calls.
• Candidates who missed the rescheduled exams for genuine reasons are being offered another opportunity to retake the test. They must submit a support ticket on the JAMB portal, explaining their absence and preferred exam location.
• To address the crisis, JAMB set up a Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre (CCESC) and expanded its ticketing system to handle complaints, exam clashes, and technical issues.
Systemic Issues and Technical Changes
• JAMB implemented new security measures in 2025, including advanced question shuffling and a shift from traditional counting to source-based analysis for scoring, aiming to curb malpractice. However, these changes led to technical failures, particularly where system patches were not uniformly applied across all server clusters.
Issue and Details
Technical glitches: System failures, missing questions, incomplete sessions at 157 CBT centres
Mass low scores: Over 50% scored below 200; lowest performance in CBT history
Communication and logistics: Overlap with WAEC exams, short notice for resit, distant exam centres
Psychological impact: Traumatic experiences for candidates; at least one reported suicide linked to exam stress
Demand for transparency and fairness: Calls for result verification, legal action, and public apology
• The board has engaged external experts and educational assessment professionals to investigate and review the entire examination process, promising transparency and remedial action where necessary.
Is this JAMB speaking?
Read also: Trying moment for JAMB: Authority’s ordeal forces board to take hard decision
Charles Ogbu
SUSPICIOUSLY selected Okigwe?????? Chai!!
This is how a government agency is officially responding to a grave issue involving the lives of 15 kids now missing as a result of JAMB’s intentional act of academic sabotage against a section of the country.
Chief Osita Chidoka, I know you were tagged in the tweet, but I feel compelled to tag you here again because I want to know: do you want to keep defending an organisation that treats your people with this level of hate-induced bigotry?
I am consoled by the fact that no man, no matter how powerful, can make a private bargain with history.
NOTE: The kids have been located by the police, but that should not close your eyes to the true intent of this tweet from the JAMB Twitter handle.
JAMB, SOUTH-EAST & NIGERIA!
Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri on Facebook
JAMB, SOUTH-EAST & NIGERIA!
You need to see how I dashed to the airport and flew back into the country in a frenzy. Apart from that, I had other things I planned to do this Saturday. All my plans had to be either cancelled or adjusted because of an unplanned JAMB resit. Enveloped in that confusion, I feel compelled to write this note as a South-Easterner, as a mother, and as a JAMB-affected person.
I have seen hands clapping for JAMB Registrar, Mr. Oloyede, for acknowledging the technological flaws in JAMB’s test scoring systems and scheduling a resit for affected students… I abstained from clapping when I realised that it was EDUCARE’s accountability campaigns that forced him into repentance. If not for Alex Onyia’s EDUCARE, we don’t know how long this has been happening, and how many people have suffered harm, without any detection or consequence.
I once argued with my good friend, Funke, about the marginalisation of the South-East (SE), which she claimed either doesn’t exist or is grossly exaggerated. When NELFUND student loans were disbursed, SE students were omitted, and some stories were told to explain away the omission. When the FG borrowed $22.7 billion for infrastructure projects, SE was omitted, and some stories were told to explain away the omission. When the FG constituted the Presidential Committee on the 2025 Census, SE was omitted, and some stories were told to explain away the omission. Igbos are already used to political and economic omissions and exclusion, and that’s OK. We’re used to it already!
It is deeply concerning that JAMB’s tech glitches, once again, predominantly affected students from the SE region and Lagos.
People from the SE are expected to accept this as a mere glitch and move on. Just like that! If you look further into the details of the students affected in Lagos, you will find that they also come from the SE. This morning, I deliberately checked the surnames of most of the JAMB-resit students; nearly all of them are from the SE. No matter how you interpret these “governmental” omissions, exclusions, and tech-imposed afflictions on South-Easterners, they do not appear to be coincidences to me. It’s more systematic and structural than coincidental.
Finally, JAMB withheld the results of over 40,000 students because they are “underage. ” JAMB also announced in March 2025 that underage students would only be enrolled in universities if they scored at least 280. In May, JAMB shifted the goalposts to 320 and released the results of only 467 students who crossed the mark. Why would JAMB allow underage students to write the JAMB in the first place, only to withhold their results? Why collect money from underage students and then blame them for being underage? Why not restrain them at the entry point? Why shift the goalposts in the middle of the game? Is JAMB merely a revenue mobilisation stream or an educational lever for Nigerian students?
I have no answers to these questions. However, the recent revelations are quite enlightening. At the very least, those who are wounded, targeted, or excluded will now gird up their loins and start shopping for alternatives that work for them. A stitch in time saves nine.
President Tinubu, Peter Obi and Kayode Fayemi in Rome
Seyi Tinubu, the fly in the ointment.
Social and mainstream media were upbeat in reporting the encounter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with Mr Peter Obi, his competitor in the 2023 presidential race, and Dr Kayode Fayemi, a former two-time governor of Ekiti State and federal minister.
Pope Leo XIV invited Tinubu to witness his inauguration. Fayemi and Obi, papal knights, were also there. Tinubu remarked that he was head of the Nigerian delegation, and the two were part of his entourage. Obi readily agreed.
All’s well that ends well?
No. Seyi Tinubu featured in the reports. The son of the president sought to sneak into the line for a handshake with the Pope. Vatican security stopped him.
Commentators are aghast. One person called him Ajantala, the troublesome child of Yoruba mythology captured in Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (The Forest of a Thousand Daemons in Soyinka’s translation).
Prof. Farooq Kperogi observed from America, “Was Seyi Tinubu trying to shake the pope after his father? Why does he need to be there? This young man is becoming intolerably intrusive.“
https://web.facebook.com/share/r/1DuBoCyXdN/
Another shameful outing by Seyi Tinubu – A giant national embarrassment!
It is a matter of national pride that the Pope personally invited President Tinubu to his inauguration.
The list of the official delegation did not include Seyi Tinubu.
Presidents and Heads of State were invited for a handshake with the Pope, and to our surprise, Seyi Tinubu found his way close to the Pope, only to be politely whisked aside by eagle-eyed security officials.
There were at least three Nigerian Bishops on the delegation, as well as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
All of them maintained their lanes and respected protocol.
But not Seyi Tinubu.
It was not the Bishops or the Minister who walked behind Tinubu to shake hands with the Pope. It was no other person than Ajantala, the troublesome child who would not let a nation breathe!
Let it be clear to all and sundry. The actions of Seyi Tinubu have the full backing, endorsement and validation of Mr President.
The Mafia has taken over Nigeria.
Seyi for President 2031.!!!!
Bashorun 1, OAdegbulugbe
