Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has called for a systems audit on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, following the technical failure that marred its 2025 examination.
There was a nationwide outage over what JAMB called technical glitches which affected 379,997 candidates in the five states of the South East geographical zone and Lagos in the 2025 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination, UTME, results released by the examination body on May 9.
A breakdown showed that more than 78 percent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum points obtainable, leading to protests.
JAMB undertook a review and uncovered a major “technical error” that compromised the results of 379,997 candidates across 157 centres.
Addressing the press, Kalu expressed deep concern over the outcry by affected candidates in the South East and Lagos State.
The deputy speaker also lamented the tragic death of a UTME candidate by suicide, reportedly triggered by the flawed results.
In response to these revelations, he outlined several urgent actions that JAMB must take.
He said the board must immediately review all technical and independent reports to fully understand the crisis.
He said an independent, transparent audit of its entire examination infrastructure should be commissioned, involving external professionals and experts.
Kalu said JAMB must provide a clear mechanism for UTME remark and appeal, especially for those dissatisfied with the resit or who faced further technical issues.
He added that JAMB should proactively publish anonymised, candidate-level result data for independent verification and open its systems to Freedom of Information, FoI,
requests.
The deputy speaker recommended stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent future occurrences.
Kalu assured the affected candidates that their frustrations are valid, adding that the National Assembly is ready to provide oversight to ensure that the necessary reforms are implemented.
He urged JAMB to see this “painful episode” as a catalyst for lasting improvement, emphasising that the integrity of national examinations must never be compromised.
