A former governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos State, Funsho Doherty, has criticised the 48 hours’ notice given to candidates to rewrite the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) after a glitch altered the result of the one they wrote in the same year.

According to Doherty, nearly 380,000 students were affected by the glitch recorded in the system of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which conducted the UTME.

He lamented that 54 per cent of those candidates, which are based in Lagos, were asked to resit the exam by 6:30 a.m on Saturday.

“This abrupt timeline has robbed them of a chance to recover, regroup, or prepare, compounding an already traumatic ordeal,” he said.

Doherty said persistent technical issues were recorded on the morning of the exam, adding that such could “only deepen the trauma for students and their families, many of whom had to drop everything and scramble at the last minute. For students who already feel marginalised by a broken system, these logistical errors inflict real emotional pain on a deeply personal level.”

Doherty then urged JAMB to take certain steps to prevent a repeat of the earlier problem.

According to him, the exam body needs to extend the resit window, adding that future resit arrangements must be announced with at least two weeks’ notice, giving students adequate time to recover emotionally, and approach the exam with clarity and rebuilt confidence.

Doherty urged the board to provide counselling support by partnering with trained professionals to deliver free, accessible counselling to all affected candidates where indicated or requested

He called for the strengthening of technical, procedural and risk-management protocols, including vendor risk management.

“Commission independent technical. infrastructure and process audits and publish the findings. Implement comprehensive remedial measures to prevent future failures,” he said.

He said JAMB needs to engage stakeholders and convene a national roundtable, including student input, parent-teacher associations, civil-society organisations, and technical experts to design a more resilient, transparent, and student-centered examination system.

Doherty then acknowledged and commended JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, for his rare and commendable act of admission and accountability, describing it as an uncommon gesture in a nation where accepting responsibility is often avoided or deflected.

He also extended his sincerest condolences to the family of one of Faith Opesusi Timileyin a young resident of Ikorodu, Lagos, whose death is believed to be related to despair over her incorrectly reported UTME score.