The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Oloyede has revealed that he earlier considered resigning his appointment following a major technical failure that disrupted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Recall that the 2025 UTME results, released on May 9, showed that over 78% of candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 points, generating public outrage.
In response, JAMB launched an internal investigation and uncovered a significant technical fault that compromised the exam’s integrity.
On May 14, Oloyede disclosed that the results of nearly 380,000 candidates from 157 centres in Lagos and the south-east were affected by the error. The problem was traced to a flawed server update from one of JAMB’s technical service providers, which prevented candidates’ answers from being uploaded during the first three days of testing. The issue was only detected after the initial results were published.
To address the problem, JAMB organised a resit exam starting May 16 and continuing past May 19.
At a meeting with chief external examiners, civil society groups, and education stakeholders in Abuja, Oloyede responded to demands for his resignation amid accusations of ethnic bias and sabotage.
He admitted that his initial reaction was to step down but was persuaded to stay, acknowledging the impact his resignation would have on affected students.
“When it happened, my first reaction was to resign. But people advised me that the students would never forgive me because it would seem like abandoning them at such a critical time,” he said.