Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate has commended Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), for his transparency and accountability over the 2025 UTME result scandal.
The 2025 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) results recently released by JAMB indicated that over 1.5 million out of 1.9 million candidates who sat for the exam scored below 200.
Following public outcries on the controversial results, Prof Oloyede admitted that the exam body made mistakes that affected the results of over 300,000 candidates.
Oloyede tearfully explained that the problem was caused by ‘technical glitches’ which affected 65 centres in Lagos (206,610 candidates) and 92 centres in the south-east zone (173,387 candidates).
His admission sparked another outcry as many Nigerians criticised JAMB and called on the Federal Government to scrap the exam body.
Reacting to the scandal, Obi commended Oloyede in a statement for “open admission of fault and the expression of deep remorse.”
In the statement ‘Let’s not let Glitches Become a National Crisis,’ Obi hailed JAMB for its swift response and willingness to admit shortcomings.
The statement reads in part: “I recently watched the heartfelt press conference delivered by the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, in which he acknowledged that technical glitches had affected the recently released JAMB results, impacting 379,997 candidates. His open admission of fault and deep remorse stand out as a rare but commendable display of accountability in our public institutions.
‘But it raises a very concerning issue on glitches and the grave havoc it’s creating in our country, even in critical institutions like JAMB. While JAMB’s swift response and willingness to own up to its shortcomings are worthy of recognition, the incident has brought to light a far more troubling reality: the persistent fragility of our institutional systems.
“The emotional and psychological toll on students, and even parents, some of whom have reportedly suffered severe trauma, and in heartbreaking cases, even death, serves as a reminder of what is at stake.”
The former Governor of Anambra State advised all exam bodies and institutions like them to “adopt comprehensive quality assurance frameworks” that include “rigorous testing and constant auditing of technical infrastructure.”
He also encouraged transparent communication with candidates and stakeholders, coupled with prompt resolution of arising issues, to restore public confidence.
“There must be no room for further glitches — not in JAMB, not in any arm of government. The cost of repeated failure is simply too high,” Obi concluded.