He made the call at a Press Briefing on the 2025 JAMB UTME Technical Crisis, in Abuja.

He said that the events surrounding the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have shaken public confidence in one of Nigeria’s most critical gateways to opportunity.

First of all, let me begin by commending the candor, touching humility, and

However, we must recognise that these measures, while necessary, do not erase the trauma, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by our young people and their families.

Nigeria unfortunately lost a UTME candidate to

Mr. Kalu said.

The Deputy Speaker also said that the technical review results available to him have revealed that a critical system patch essential for the new shuffling and validation protocols was not deployed to the server clusters servicing 157 centres in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria and Lagos state.

In previous years, JAMB evaluated the integrity of examination sessions primarily by counting the number of responses submitted per session.

If the majority of candidates in a session of 250 submitted a near-complete set of answers, the session was deemed valid.

The third change was a series of systemic improvements aimed at optimising performance and reducing lag during exam sessions.

he said.

He noted that, while the improvements were technologically sound in theory,
a major operational flaw was uncovered during the implementation phase.

“The system patch necessary to support both shuffling and source-based validation had been fully deployed on the server cluster supporting the

” As a result, approximately 92 centres in the South-East and 65 centres in

After deduplication and filtering, about 15,000 authentic records were analysed. Of these, more than 14,000 originated from the regions serviced by the unpatched LAG servers, confirming the
technical review’s findings.

Comparative analyses between JAMB’s internal audits and third-party system evaluations revealed significant overlap,
reinforcing the conclusion that the affected centres were indeed operating under impaired conditions.

he said.

He stressed that, “We must not underestimate the toll this has taken. Parents and candidates

Reports from the resit examinations held on Friday include complaints of difficult questions, time management issues, more

The Path Forward: Urgent Recommendations

In light of these revelations, I call for the following urgent actions:

“

Now that the rescheduled examinations have concluded, I urge JAMB to commission an independent, transparent audit of its entire examination i

engineers, and academic measurement experts to scrutinize every aspect of the CBT engine, question delivery, answer validation, and result collation
processes.

3. Safeguarding Affected Candidates

It is imperative that candidates from the South-East and Lagos who have
already borne the brunt of these failures are not further disadvantaged.

JAMB must provide a clear, accessible mechanism for remark and appeal,
especially for those dissatisfied with the hurried resit or who experienced
technical difficulties during the second sitting.

Furthermore, coordination with WAEC and other examination bodies must continue to ensure that no candidate’s academic progression is impeded by scheduling conflicts.

4. Transparent Communication and Data Release

JAMB should proactively publish anonymized, candidate-level result data for independent verification and open its systems to Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests as a gesture of transparency and accountability.
This will go a long way in rebuilding public trust.

5. Strengthening Quality Assurance and Real-Time Monitoring”

The Deputy Speaker said that going forward, JAMB must implement stronger deployment validation protocols and real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent recurrence.

“Every system update must be thoroughly tested and confirmed across all server clusters before deployment during high-stakes examinations, “ he said.

The Deputy Speaker sympathised with the affected candidates, saying that their frustration is valid, and their voices have been heard.

“The integrity of our national examinations must never be
compromised by technical lapses or human error.

As Deputy Speaker, I assure you that the National Assembly stands ready to provide oversight and ensure that these reforms are not only promised but delivered,” he added.