JAMB 2025 || South-East Students Excel After Rescheduled UTME Exams

Introduction
The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) also know as JAMB is meant to be a level playing field, a national exam that gives every Nigerian student an equal shot at higher education. But for many candidates in 2025, especially those from the South-East and some parts of Lagos, that promise was broken.

What should have been a celebration of preparation and excellence turned into heartbreak and confusion. Bright, hard-working students who had consistently excelled academically found themselves staring at abysmally low scores when the first batch of results was released. These were not just random names, many were known top performers in their schools and communities. Something was clearly wrong.

The disappointment wasn’t limited to the students. Parents, teachers, and education advocates across the country raised their voices in frustration. How could so many outstanding students suddenly “fail”? Why were the disruptions largely concentrated in particular regions?

Their collective outcry triggered national attention and eventually pushed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to take action.

The Technical Glitches that Sparked the Crisis

From the very first day of the exam, stories of disruptions began flooding social media. Students complained of computer systems freezing mid-exam, login errors, and sudden disconnections that cut their tests short. At some centres, candidates couldn’t write the exams at all. In others, they finished under stressful and unstable conditions.

While some technical issues are not uncommon in large-scale digital assessments, the scale and concentration of these glitches were alarming. It quickly became apparent that the majority of affected centres were located in the South-East, with a few also in Lagos and other urban hubs. This raised eyebrows. Why this pattern? Was it negligence? Poor planning? Or something more deliberate?

JAMB responded by stating that the technical problems were due to newly introduced security enhancements designed to curb exam malpractice. But that explanation failed to account for the widespread and regionally skewed nature of the breakdowns.

When Good Students “Failed”

What truly escalated the situation was the release of the first set of results. Students who had always topped their classes and excelled in mock exams scored far below expectations. Social media was flooded with screenshots, testimonials, and outrage.

Parents took to the internet and airwaves, not just to vent but to ask hard questions:

• How did so many high-performing students suddenly underperform so drastically?
• Why were results from certain states—particularly in the South-East—so poor?
• Could the system errors have corrupted the data or unfairly penalized candidates?

It didn’t take long for the story to gain national traction. Nigerians, known for their deep value for education, rallied around the affected students. From schools to alumni associations, from local communities to public figures, the call for justice grew louder.

Alex Onyia and the Power of Advocacy

One of the key figures who helped spotlight the injustice was Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare. Known for his commitment to educational reform, Onyia used his influence to share verified data, student experiences, and ask uncomfortable but necessary questions.

His timely posts drew massive engagement and helped keep the conversation alive when some officials attempted to downplay the issue. More importantly, he ensured that this wasn’t just about individual students, it became a matter of national credibility and educational fairness.

It was voices like his, amplified by the community and driven by truth, that pressured JAMB to eventually offer rescheduled exams to those affected.

JAMB’s Response

When JAMB finally announced a resit for the affected candidates, it came with an underwhelming statement: “Man proposes, God disposes.” For many families, this response was not only tone-deaf, it was offensive. This wasn’t an act of God; it was a failure of human systems and oversight.

Still, the opportunity for a resit was better than no action at all. And this time, JAMB seemed to have corrected its earlier errors. The exams went on smoothly for most students, and the atmosphere was markedly more stable.

Success at Last

When the results of the rescheduled exams were released, the narrative changed completely. Students who had earlier recorded disappointing scores returned with results that accurately reflected their academic ability. Many scored over 300, some even above 350.

This wave of success was not just individual triumphs, it was a regional victory for the South-East, a zone that has consistently produced top academic performers. The resit results validated what teachers, parents, and educationists had said all along: these students had been unfairly assessed the first time.

Their excellence was never in doubt. The system simply failed them and they rose above it anyway.

The Questions That Still Demand Answers

As we celebrate the resilience and brilliance of these students, it is important to continue asking questions that matter:

• Why were system failures allowed to persist on such a massive scale in a high-stakes national exam?
• Why did it take public outcry before corrective action was taken?
• Why were the most affected candidates concentrated in the South-East and few Lagos centres? Was it poor infrastructure, inadequate supervision, or something more intentional?
• How can JAMB ensure this never happens again?

These are not just questions for JAMB, they are questions for the Nigerian education system at large.

Conclusion

The 2025 UTME saga may have begun in confusion, but it ends with clarity: our students are brilliant, resilient, and determined. Even when the system tried to fail them, they refused to give up.

We commend every candidate who sat through both rounds, every parent who fought for their child’s future, and every advocate like Alex Onyia who used their voice to seek fairness.

As we move forward, we hope this episode serves as a lesson for institutions across Nigeria: students deserve systems that support them, not systems they must fight against.

Let us build a future where excellence is not only expected but protected.