The Chief Executive Officer of Educare, an education technology firm, Alex Onyia, has petitioned the governors and commissioners for education in the South-East and Lagos State over the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) technical glitch that affected thousands of candidates.
In separate letters dated May 16, 2025, Onyia called the attention of the state governments to what he described as a critical failure in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) Computer-Based Test (CBT) infrastructure. He said the glitch had a disproportionate impact on candidates from all five South-East states—Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Imo—as well as Lagos.
The Educare boss noted that although JAMB had initially attributed the widespread failure to stricter anti-malpractice measures, internal investigations and engagements with federal authorities later exposed an underlying technical fault.
“Our systems projected standard performance levels across our partner schools, and the abrupt deviation prompted a deeper probe,” Onyia said.
He added that legal processes were initiated and pressure from stakeholders led to a system-wide review by JAMB, which ultimately uncovered lapses linked to a newly engaged vendor.
Despite the findings, JAMB rescheduled a retest within 48 hours—a move Onyia said raises fresh concerns about transparency and the readiness of the new vendor’s platform.
“JAMB is using the media to suggest that we supported the resolution efforts, but we have not been granted access to audit the system or vendor. The resit may simply be a patch, not a true fix,” he warned.
He urged the governors to immediately:
- Review a technical report attached to the letter,
- Advocate for an independent audit of the new system before the resit exams are concluded,
- And ensure that students from affected states are not further disadvantaged.
The rescheduled UTME is expected to conclude by Monday, May 19. Onyia said time is of the essence and urged state leaders to take swift action to safeguard the academic future of their candidates.
“I have formally written to the five governors and commissioners of education in the South-East. I also did for Lagos State. These were affected states. We must act now,” he stated.
In a statement following the audit, Onyia criticized JAMB’s fraud detection system, describing it as outdated and in urgent need of review. He insisted the malpractice report attributing blame to Anambra and Lagos States was false, based on their audit findings.
JAMB itself has acknowledged errors in the 2025 UTME process, admitting that technical glitches contributed to irregularities in the exam results. The Board has promised to take corrective measures, but the controversy has deepened calls for a more transparent and robust examination system.
This development highlights the ongoing challenges facing Nigeria’s education sector and underscores the urgent need for reform in the administration of national examinations.
Thenigeriaeducationnews has earlier reported on JAMB’s admission of errors during the 2025 UTME, including the emotional press briefing by the Board’s Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede.
