A major Nigeria exam glitch in the 2025 UTME university entrance tests has triggered national outrage, widespread student distress, and a tragic suicide. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which oversees the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), admitted to a “technical glitch” after nearly 80% of the 1.9 million candidates failed to score above 200—the benchmark for university admission.
Among the hardest-hit was 19-year-old Faith Opesusi Timileyin, who took her own life after scoring 146, down from 193 the previous year. She had aspired to study microbiology. Her devastated father confirmed that she ingested poison out of despair.
The 2025 exam, conducted in March, faced severe disruptions. Students reported issues including blank exam questions, login failures, sudden power outages, and even computers displaying other candidates’ profiles. Favour Eke, a candidate from Abuja, noted that 10 questions were missing from her screen. Though invigilators advised her to skip them, she struggled to concentrate. It marked her third attempt at the UTME, and she remains ineligible to retake the test since Abuja is not among the designated retake zones.
Only 400,000 students scored 200 or higher, making this one of Nigeria’s worst UTME performances in recent memory. JAMB initially defended the results as a reflection of students’ “true academic abilities” following stricter measures against exam malpractice. However, mounting public pressure forced a partial reversal.
In a tearful press conference, JAMB registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede apologized for the chaos and announced that nearly 380,000 affected students across 157 centers—mainly in Lagos and the southeast—would retake the exam starting Saturday. The failure stemmed from a system malfunction that failed to upload responses during the early exam days.
Oloyede’s apology has done little to quell public anger. Rights activists and citizens online have demanded his resignation or arrest. Human rights advocate Rinu Oduala called it “educational sabotage,” while opposition leader Peter Obi criticized the disruption and called for greater accountability within critical national institutions.
The 2025 Nigeria exam glitch has exposed deep flaws in the country’s high-stakes education system. While retakes offer some reprieve, affected students continue to endure the emotional and academic toll caused by the crisis.
