By Paul Effiong, Abuja
House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education Examination Bodies has called for an independent probe into the human errors that disrupted the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
The committee disclosed that one of the major key strategies under its consideration is to urgently activate actions that would ensure the immediate deployment of independent monitors across the six geopolitical zones for the purpose of ensuring transparency, accountability and error -free examination in future exercises.
The committee gave the directive Tuesday in a world press conference held at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of his committee, the Chairman, Oforji Oboku explained that his committee is working assiduously with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to evaluate and critically investigate all circumstances that led to such avoidable human errors.
The lawmakers also sympathised with parents and candidates over the unfortunate and avoidable incident.
The committee informed that it was humility on the part of the JAMB leadership to apologise to Nigerians over their mistakes.
Meanwhile, the committee had also pledged to work assiduously with relevant key stakeholders in order to restore the credibility of the examination process across Nigeria and beyond.
“We sincerely apologise to the candidates, their parents and the Nigerian public. This disruption is unprecedented in the history of JAMB and must never happen again,” Oboku said.
He commended the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, for his transparency and public apology, but maintained that the errors were entirely avoidable and pointed to institutional failure.
“The registrar has shown rare courage by accepting responsibility, but we must be clear — this was a preventable lapse. Our students and the nation deserve better,” the committee chairman noted.
He noted that government and the country’s educational system, which is a cornerstone of our future, cannot withstand another scandal.
It would be recalled that about 379,000 candidates sat for the rescheduled examination conducted by JAMB last week but with bitter complaint and allegations.
