Deputy Speaker Kalu has decried the hasty rescheduling of JAMB exams and tasked the board to conduct a comprehensive and independent audit of its examination systems
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to conduct a comprehensive and independent audit of its examination systems, following widespread technical issues during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Addressing journalists on Sunday in Abuja, Kalu criticized the hasty rescheduling of the resit examinations, particularly its clash with the ongoing 2025 Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), which forced some candidates to travel long distances under strenuous conditions.
He urged JAMB to commission external experts—system engineers and academic measurement professionals—to scrutinize every facet of the Computer-Based Test (CBT) process, including question delivery, answer validation, and result collation.
“Only by comparing its internal reviews with independent findings can JAMB guarantee that no affected candidate is left behind,” he stated.
Kalu also stressed the need for JAMB to review technical reports from third-party education technology providers that have compiled candidate-level data, saying this would provide a full picture of the challenges and their consequences.
He particularly drew attention to candidates in the south-east region and Lagos State, he said were disproportionately impacted by the glitches.
“JAMB must provide a clear, accessible mechanism for remark and appeal, especially for those dissatisfied with the hurried resit or who experienced technical difficulties during the second sitting.
“Furthermore, coordination with WAEC and other examination bodies must continue to ensure that no candidate’s academic progression is impeded by scheduling conflicts.
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“JAMB should proactively publish anonymised, candidate-level result data for independent verification and open its systems to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests as a gesture of transparency and accountability. This will go a long way in rebuilding public trust.
“Going forward, JAMB must implement stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent recurrence. Every system update must be thoroughly tested and confirmed across all server clusters before deployment during high-stakes examinations.”
He extended his empathy to affected students:
“To the affected candidates, your frustration is valid, and your voices have been heard. The integrity of our national examinations must never be compromised by technical lapses or human error.
“As Deputy Speaker, I assure you that the National Assembly stands ready to provide oversight and ensure that these reforms are not only promised but delivered. Let us turn this painful episode into a catalyst for lasting improvement.
“Our young people deserve a system that is not only fair, but resilient, transparent, and worthy of their trust. JAMB must strive even when you stumble; transparency and honesty build trust, and trust propels us forward.”
Kalu commended JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, for his openness in acknowledging the glitches, which affected nearly 380,000 candidates.
“The swift apology and the decision to offer retake opportunities for all affected candidates reflect a commitment to fairness and justice.
“However, we must recognise that these measures, while necessary, do not erase the trauma, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by our young people and their families. Nigeria unfortunately lost a UTME candidate to suicide, consequentially triggered by the ensuing results of this technical glitch. Our heart goes out to the loved ones of this brave young one.”
Kalu also provided insight into technical reviews made available to him, revealing a major oversight that led to the disruptions.
“The technical review results available to me have revealed that a critical system patch essential for the new shuffling and validation protocols was not deployed to the server clusters servicing 157 centres in the south-east and Lagos.”
He explained that the 2025 UTME introduced three major changes: a shift from count-based to source-based result validation, full-scale question and answer shuffling, and performance-optimizing system upgrades.
“The third change was a series of systemic improvements aimed at optimising performance and reducing lag during exam sessions. This was a major policy change that saw the best and highest obtained UTME score in 15 years; a remarkable achievement by JAMB in principle.”
Despite the merit of these innovations, a major failure in deploying a system patch rendered centres in the Lagos cluster (including the south-east) vulnerable.
“The system patch necessary to support both shuffling and source-based validation had been fully deployed on the server cluster supporting the KAD (Kaduna) zone, but it was not applied to the LAG (Lagos) cluster, which services centres in Lagos and the South-East. This omission persisted across all sessions until the 17th session, after which the error was discovered and corrected.”
According to him, 157 centres—92 in the south-east and 65 in Lagos—were impacted, affecting approximately 379,997 candidates.
“As a result, candidates in these centres were unfairly disadvantaged, with their responses improperly validated and their scores misrepresented. This was not a failure of our students, nor a deliberate act of sabotage, but a preventable human error within our system.”
He further revealed that independent verification, conducted in collaboration with the Educare Technical Team, analyzed over 15,000 valid candidate records—mostly from the affected regions—which confirmed the system error.
“Comparative analyses between JAMB’s internal audits and third-party system evaluations revealed significant overlap, reinforcing the conclusion that the affected centres were indeed operating under impaired conditions.”
Kalu expressed concern about the way the resit was handled:
“We must not underestimate the toll this has taken. Parents and candidates have voiced legitimate concerns about the hurried scheduling of resit examinations, the overlap with ongoing WAEC assessments, the psychological strain, and the logistical burdens of travelling to distant centres on short notice.
“Reports from the resit examinations held on Friday include complaints of difficult questions, time management issues, more technical glitches, poor centre coordination, and a lack of adequate support for those still affected.”
He concluded by reinforcing the need for systemic reform to safeguard future examinations and ensure student welfare is never again compromised by operational failures.
