Thousands of candidates who took part in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are preparing to take legal action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), following claims of widespread technical issues and incomplete exam questions that allegedly affected their performance.
The move comes after JAMB released results last week showing that over 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates scored below 200 out of a total of 400 marks—sparking public concern and criticism.
While the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, attributed the outcome to the board’s improved measures against malpractice, many students and parents argue that technical errors, not cheating prevention, are to blame.
Education advocate and CEO of Educare, Alex Onyia, announced on Sunday that a lawsuit against JAMB would be filed at the Federal High Court on Monday. According to him, more than 8,000 students have already submitted formal complaints.
“There is ample evidence to prove that JAMB’s system was inefficient, thereby causing serious harm to these students’ mental health,” Onyia wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“We are demanding that JAMB release detailed mark sheets so students can see what they got wrong, the correct answers, and have a chance to dispute discrepancies.”
He added that 8,391 students had reported problems, ranging from missing questions to unexplained low scores, demanding transparency and accountability from the examination body.
Several candidates shared their experiences.
One student who sat for the exam in Maitama, Abuja, said some of her English questions were missing. “I raised the issue during the exam.
When my result came out, I scored 170. JAMB has not explained anything,” she said.
Another candidate, who had scored 287 in 2024, was stunned to see her 2025 score drop to 173. “Many others who wrote on the same day said their English questions were incomplete.
I don’t believe that score reflects my performance,” she added.
A concerned parent also joined the call for a review. “We want a remark.
These are brilliant students scoring unusually low. Many reported incomplete questions and system failures.
JAMB must address this; it can’t be ignored,” he said.
As of the time of this report, JAMB had not issued an official response to the complaints.
Attempts to contact the board’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, were unsuccessful.