House of Representatives’ South-East Caucus Calls for 2025 UTME Cancellation Amid JAMB Glitch Controversy

The South-East Caucus in Nigeria’s House of Representatives has urged the immediate cancellation of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), following a massive technical failure by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) that affected nearly 380,000 candidates.

Led by Iduma Igariwey, the caucus described the incident as a “catastrophic institutional failure” that compromised the integrity and fairness of the examination. In an interview on Channels Television, Igariwey said, “The whole thing has lost its integrity. It has lost its fairness. People who took the time and prepared for exams were no longer in a position to take those exams.”

The caucus criticized JAMB’s handling of the situation, particularly the rushed rescheduling of the retake exam just 48 hours after the admission of the problem. “We all got reports from our various constituencies. A lot of students could not make it to the examination halls,” Igariwey said.

The caucus also called for the resignation of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, arguing that his leadership failed to prevent the crisis. They demanded a fresh examination date, preferably after the WAEC and NECO exams, to avoid disadvantaging students.

This development follows JAMB’s public admission on May 14 that a “technical glitch” and “human error” led to the need for a retake by a significant portion of candidates, an unprecedented event in Nigeria’s examination history.