The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be available for candidates to check starting Friday, May 9. The Board’s Public Communication Advisor confirmed this while disclosing that the delayed release was due to ongoing evaluation processes for special categories such as blind candidates and those under the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group.
Despite a record registration of over 1.95 million candidates, only 21.5% scored above 200 marks. This revelation has sparked widespread concern among education stakeholders, who are calling for urgent reforms in secondary education delivery, teacher training, and curriculum standards.
A statistical breakdown of the results paints a troubling picture of student performance. Only 0.24% of candidates scored 320 and above, while more than 50% fell within the 160–199 range. Nearly a quarter of the candidates scored between 140–159, highlighting a steep drop in high-performing candidates.
Reacting to the results, a prominent political figure and former presidential aspirant criticized the figures as a clear reflection of deep-rooted systemic failures in Nigeria’s education sector. He attributed the poor outcomes to chronic underinvestment and neglect, stressing that education should be treated as a cornerstone of national development.
In response, JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede explained that the 2025 results are consistent with trends observed over the last 12 years, rejecting the idea that the performance marks a significant decline. He added that while the full performance statistics have been released, individual results are still being reviewed, particularly those involving borderline or flagged cases.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, offered a different perspective defending the low pass rate as evidence of the integrity of JAMB’s computer-based testing system. He suggested that the results indicate the success of anti-malpractice efforts, noting that cheating and fraud have been significantly reduced compared to other examination bodies like WAEC and NECO.
The final set of individual results is expected to be released following a press briefing later this week, after all necessary verifications have been completed.
