Abuja, FCT - The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has set up an emergency counselling support centre for candidates of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), following widespread complaints over technical issues and mass failure.

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, May 16, JAMB said the new Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre (CCESC) would complement its existing ticketing platform, which remains the primary communication channel for candidate support.

The examination body urged candidates concerned to contact the helpline at 07002200016, where six officials – Gbenga, Yusuf, Dubem, Tony, Ogbonna, and Emma – will be available to assist.

“Members of the public, particularly candidates with genuine concerns, can reach out to any of these officials,” the board said, adding that the CCESC is an additional layer of support.

Legit.ng notes that the announcement comes in the wake of intense public criticism following the release of the 2025 UTME results on May 9. An internal review showed that over 78% of the candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 points, prompting concerns about the integrity of the examination process.

The sharp decline in scores triggered protests from several candidates and guardians, many of whom accused the board of poor administration and technical failures during the exam.

On Wednesday, May 14, JAMB registrar Ishaq Oloyede publicly acknowledged that technical glitches had compromised the integrity of the exam across 157 centres in Lagos and the southeast region. He attributed the error to one of JAMB’s service providers.

In an emotional televised address, Oloyede apologised to affected candidates and the public, disclosing that the issue had impacted approximately 380,000 candidates.

As a corrective measure, JAMB announced that the affected candidates would be required to retake the examination between May 16 and May 19, 2025.

In a related development, JAMB said it withheld some candidates' results because they belonged to a WhatsApp group.

Fabian Benjamin, the spokesperson of the examination board, explained that the decision was taken after it was discovered that members of the group were asked to pay a particular amount so that their UTME results could be inflated. He disclosed while responding to a question from a candidate on why his result was withheld.

“He belongs to a category of candidates that we discovered were in a WhatsApp group where someone was soliciting payment, that if you pay a certain amount, your score will be inflated. So, we went into that group, and all candidates who paid money or patronised that group, we harvested their registration numbers and withheld their results," Benjamin said.

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Source: Legit.ng