The Labour Party presidential candidate, in a on Thusday, addressed the technical error that compromised results from the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The results from JAMB’s 2025 UTME were released on May 9.
An analysis that more than 78 per cent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum obtainable points.
This spurred protests that questioned the overall integrity of the examination process.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) undertook a review and a major technical error that compromised 379,997 results across 157 exam centres.
The affected candidates, it said, will now have the opportunity to retake the examination between May 16 and May 19, 2025.
The development has generated discourse around the UTME, with Nigerians weighing in on social media.
Reacting, Obi said the JAMB registrar Ishaq Oloyede’s honesty and remorse are commendable.
He, however, raised larger concerns about the reliability of Nigeria’s public institutions.
The former Anambra governor said the incident exposes the fragility of systems meant to serve the public.
Obi questioned how many more failures the country could afford.
“Let’s not make glitches become a national crisis,” his statement reads in part.
“While JAMB’s swift response and willingness to own up to its shortcomings are worthy of recognition, the incident has brought to light a far more troubling reality: the persistent fragility of our institutional systems.
“It raises a very concerning issue on glitches and the grave havoc it’s creating in our country, even in critical institutions like JAMB.”
Peter Obi said the incident has real human costs beyond data loss.
He called on JAMB and similar agencies to implement stronger controls and oversight measures.
“JAMB and similar critical bodies must adopt comprehensive quality assurance frameworks. This includes rigorous testing and constant auditing of technical infrastructure,” Obi said.
“Moreover, transparent communication with candidates and stakeholders, coupled with the prompt resolution of arising issues, is essential to restoring public confidence.
“There must be no room for further glitches. Not in JAMB, not in any arm of government. The cost of repeated failure is too high.”
Earlier, JAMB said the affected will be notified via SMS, email, and phone calls to reprint their examination slips for details.
