By Charles Maduka
A member of the House of Representatives, Iduma Igariwey, has called for the cancellation of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, describing the exercise as a “catastrophic institutional failure” by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
Igariwey, who chairs the South-East Caucus in the House, made the demand during a television interview, expressing concerns over the integrity and fairness of the examination.
“The whole thing has lost its integrity. It has lost its fairness. People who took the time and prepared for exams were no longer in a position to take those exams,” he said.
JAMB had earlier admitted that nearly 400,000 candidates would have to retake the UTME due to a combination of human error and technical issues. The exam board scheduled the resit for May 16, just two days after announcing it on May 14, a decision Igariwey said left many candidates stranded.
“We all got reports from our various constituencies. A lot of students could not make it to the examination halls. So a lot of people could not sit for those resit exams. That was our major concern,” he added.
The South-East Caucus has also called for the resignation of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and a total cancellation of the 2025 UTME nationwide.
Responding to the backlash, Oloyede apologised at a press briefing, saying, “We are human; we are not perfect.” However, Igariwey maintained that the speed of the rescheduled exams and the lack of a full investigation raised more questions than answers.
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