Mass Failure Rocks JAMB 2025: 99% Score Below 200 in Rescheduled UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of the rescheduled 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), revealing a worrying trend—an overwhelming majority of candidates performed poorly, with 99 percent scoring below 200 marks.

According to JAMB’s Public Communication Adviser, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the examination was rescheduled for 336,845 candidates who were affected by technical glitches at various centres across the country. Of that number, 21,082 candidates failed to show up for the retake.

In response, the board announced that all affected candidates—including those who missed the main UTME for any reason—will have another chance through a mop-up examination, although no date has been fixed yet.

“The waiver is also extended to candidates who, for any reason, missed the initial UTME,” JAMB stated.

The board expressed deep concern over the consistently low pass rates, pointing out that performance has remained poor for more than a decade. Statistics from previous years show pass rates hovering between 11% in 2013 and 34% in 2016, and 2025 appears no different.

JAMB also blamed the troubling performance on rampant exam malpractice and unethical practices by some school proprietors and Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres.

“This sad development has exposed widespread irregularities, with some school owners and CBT centres complicit in aiding candidates to cheat,” the board said.

To verify the credibility of the rescheduled UTME results, JAMB involved top education stakeholders, including a sub-committee chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof. Olufemi Peters, and assessment expert Prof. Boniface Nworgu.

In a separate decision, the board announced it would release the results of underage candidates previously withheld, except for those tied up in legal issues. However, those results are ineligible for admission, as the affected candidates had signed an agreement during registration acknowledging their status.

As part of efforts to clean up the system, JAMB has also granted a one-time waiver to candidates caught soliciting help through “WhatsApp runs” and similar shady channels. The board warned, however, that this was a final gesture of leniency and would not be repeated.

In the most affected states—Lagos and the five South-East states—only a handful of students managed to score above 217. The rest, JAMB said, fell below the 200 mark, and no top scorers emerged from the cancelled sessions in those regions.

JAMB also used the opportunity to debunk a viral case of result forgery involving a student from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), identified as Olisa Gabriel Chukwuemeka. The student had falsely claimed to score 326 in the 2025 UTME, but investigations revealed he doctored his 2024 result of 203 and shared it online under a fake identity.

“The actual score he received in the 2025 exam, which he took in Lagos, was 180 before it was withdrawn. Following exposure, he deactivated his X (formerly Twitter) account,” JAMB revealed.

The board confirmed that all valid results have now been released, excluding those withheld due to proven cases of malpractice or those awaiting the mop-up examination.

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