An Enugu-based law firm, John Nwobodo and Associates, has written to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, requesting detailed data on the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) amid widespread complaints over low scores.
The law firm said it was writing on behalf of over 1.9 million candidates who sat the computer-based examination.
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The FOI request specifically asked JAMB to make full disclosure of the questions and answers administered to each candidate and the answers chosen by the candidates.
It also asked the board to undertake a comprehensive review of the marking of the questions administered to candidates to ensure that the correct answers were fixed against the questions.
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“Take note that we have the instruction of our clients to explore every legal avenue to seek justice for the aggrieved candidates,” parts of the letter read.
“Accordingly, we would be glad to cooperate with you on any measures that would help to clear any doubts in the minds of the candidates regarding their actual performance in the 2025 UTME.”
The FOI law provides a seven-day window for JAMB to respond.
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The firm also copied the Ministry of Education, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
However, JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday morning that the board is yet to receive the letter.
Concerns over low scores
PREMIUM TIMES had reported that candidates and other Nigerians took to social media to protest the low scores recorded by some candidates who had previous records of better performance.
This year, more than 78 per cent of candidates who sat the UTME scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum obtainable points. Each candidate takes four subjects, each graded by 100 points.
Using the hashtag #thisisnotmyresult, they expressed concerns and called for a review of the results.
However, JAMB registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor, said the results are consistent with the trend over the years. Last year, 76 per cent of candidates who sat the UTME scored less than 200 points.
In 2022, 1.3 million candidates out of 1.7 million –or 78 per cent– who sat the 2022 UTME scored below 200, according to JAMB.
In 2021, only 803 candidates out of 1.3 million –or 0.06 per cent– who sat the 2021 UTME scored above 300, the registrar, Mr Oloyede, said at the time.
JAMB reviews complaints
Meanwhile, the examination board said on Monday that it is reviewing the complaints of low scores by the candidates.
In a statement by its spokesperson Mr Benjamin, the board said it is fast forwarding its annual system review, a comprehensive post-mortem of the examination process, as a result of the ‘significant volume of unusual complaints’ that followed the release of the 2025 UTME results on Friday.
“If it is determined that there were indeed glitches, we will implement appropriate remedial measures promptly, as we do in the case of the examinations themselves,” the board said
The board said it is particularly concerned about the unusual complaints from a few states within the federation.
JAMB said it has engaged experts to assist in the review. The experts are: “Members from the Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria, Chief External Examiners, who are heads of tertiary institutions, the Educational Association and Research Network in Africa, measurement experts, and Vice Chancellors from various institutions.”
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