The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has decided to conduct another round of mop-up examinations for candidates who missed the just-concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
This decision was made known on Wednesday during a meeting in Abuja with major stakeholders involved in the UTME process.
The JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, addressed issues faced during the 2025 UTME and announced that the board will provide another opportunity for those who couldn’t sit for the exam, regardless of the reasons for their absence.
According to him, about 5.6 percent of candidates were affected.
Oloyede shared that although releasing the UTME results came with emotional pressure, it did not mean that the board was failing.
He said JAMB is working to solve the problems that affected the examination and maintained that challenges faced were not caused by incompetence or any form of discrimination.
He urged the public not to link exam-related matters to ethnicity or conspiracy.
The Registrar explained that despite the setbacks, most of the candidates were able to complete their exams, and JAMB made efforts to ensure the process stayed on track.
He stated that the board had limited access to large testing venues and acted quickly to avoid missing the chance to help candidates who had already prepared.
He further said that the upcoming mop-up exam is meant to serve not only those with technical or administrative issues but also candidates who were absent for any reason.
In past years, mop-up exams were mostly for those with specific issues, but this year, the board is widening the scope to ensure no candidate is left out.
Oloyede also responded to those who publicly criticize the UTME, explaining that the exam is not meant to measure intelligence but to place candidates based on available spaces in higher institutions.
He added that UTME scores alone do not determine admission, as other factors like post-UTME performance and school assessments are also considered.
