The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has praised the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for its transparency in addressing the technical issues that impacted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In a letter addressed to the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the students expressed interest in monitoring the conduct of the UTME retake examinations for those affected by the glitches.
A copy of the letter signed by NANS National President, Olushola Oladoja, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
In the letter, Oladoja said the request to participate in retake examination monitoring was in line with the association’s core mandate to protect and advocate for the interests of Nigerian students and promote transparency and accountability in educational processes.
“We write to commend the Board for its timely and transparent decision to conduct a retake of the 2025 UTME for candidates affected by technical and administrative issues across six states.
“This move is a commendable demonstration of your commitment to justice, fairness, and the integrity of Nigeria’s education system.
”In line with our core mandate, we hereby express our interest to supervise and monitor the conduct of the UTME retake examination across all affected centres,” Oladoja said.
The NANS president nominated representatives from each of the six affected states to serve as official supervisors of the association during the exercise.
He described the nominees as “responsible student leaders with proven records of discipline and diligence”, adding that the association “is confident in their ability to support the process professionally”.
The nominees are Dr Mike Ifenke and Frank Eme-Orji for Abia; Ikechukwu Santos and Ebube Ijeoma for Anambra; Ibeabuchi Onya and Olisa Nwuruku for Ebonyi.
Others are Chidi Nzekwe and Minister Udochukwu for Enugu state; Chinaemerem Emesowum and Chidiebere Aguocha for Imo; Afeez Akinteye and Busari Adelaja for Lagos State.
It would be recalled that of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, over 1.5 million reportedly scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks.
Following public outrage over the poor performance, Oloyede had engaged top IT experts and educational assessment professionals to investigate alleged technical glitches that marred the examinations.
During a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the JAMB Registrar admitted to a technical error that compromised the integrity of the results in 157 centres nationwide, affecting the results of 379,997 candidates.
Oloyede, who betrayed emotions and shed tears during the news conference, took responsibility for the errors.
He said the affected candidates would be contacted to retake the examination on scheduled dates.
