By Adedapo Adesanya

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has ordered an immediate review of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) following public outcry over technical glitches and threats of lawsuits.

The board, in a statement issued by its Public Communication Advisor, Mr Fabian Benjamin, acknowledged what it described as an “unusual volume of complaints” since the release of the UTME results last Friday.

Last week, JAMB announced that over 1.5 million out of the 1.9 million candidates that sat for the 2025 exercise scored below 200 out of the total 400 marks.

It said the development had prompted it to fast-track its annual post-examination review process, which typically takes place months after the exercise.

“We are particularly concerned about the unusual complaints originating from a few states within the federation. We are currently scrutinising these complaints in detail to identify and rectify any potential technical issues,” the statement read.

The spokesperson explained that the annual review covers three stages of the UTME cycle—registration, examination, and result release, adding that if any faults are found in the system, JAMB would not hesitate to implement “appropriate remedial measures.”

“To assist in this process, we have engaged a number of experts, including members from the Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria, Chief External Examiners, who are heads of tertiary institutions, the Educational Assessment and Research Network in Africa, measurement experts, and Vice Chancellors from various institutions,” he said.

The exam board noted that “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.”

This development comes amid reports that thousands of candidates are preparing to file a class-action lawsuit against the Board over the alleged irregularities that led to mass failure.

The chief executive of Educare, Mr Alex Onyia, has commenced legal proceeding with almost 9,000 affected students by the issue on board, saying the demand is for JAMB to show students their mark sheets to view their results and enforce more transparency.

Many claim they encountered technical malfunctions and inconsistent question displays during the examination and this has sparked conversation on social media

In reaction, the Minister of Education, Mr Tunji Alausa, attributed the mass failure to the efficacy of JAMB’s anti-malpractice technology.

He defended the results, stating that the board’s computer-based testing system “had made cheating nearly impossible” and should be extended to other national examinations such as WAEC and NECO.

JAMB Registrar, Mr Ishaq Oloyede, also dismissed claims that the 2025 results were unprecedented, pointing out that similar performance trends have been recorded in previous years.

Despite the registrar’s defence, pressure continues to mount on the Board, with widespread calls for transparency and fairness in the marking and result collation processes.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Professor Chris Piwuna has been elected as the next president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), replacing Professor Emmanuel Osodeke.

The new ASUU chief was elected at the 23rd National Delegates Congress of the group in Benin City, Edo State on Sunday.

He is a consultant psychiatrist at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, and won the exercise contested alongside Professor Adamu Babayo of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.

The ASUU president is also the Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Jos.

His predecessor is a Professor of Soil Science from the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The best graduating students of the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil (ADUSTECH), Kano State have been assured automatic jobs.

This gesture was from Mr Aliko Dangote, who was reappointed as the Chancellor of the tertiary institution. He also donated N15 billion to the school during its 5th convocation ceremony.

In his speech, the businessman charged the university to be repositioned to lead the race of producing cutting edge research and highly skilled manpower that meets the requirements of market demands, industries and real problem solvers in the Nigerian society.

“It is in this vein that I wish to use this opportunity to announce the launch of the 5-year development plan which I envision for this institution.

“Over the next five years, we will commit the sum of N15 billion to the following projects: the design and construction of additional student hostels; the design and construction of a world class Engineering Lab; the design and construction of a world class multipurpose computer lab -open to all students of the institution which will also be equipped with 24-hour internet access to support academic research and the installation of a mini-solar plant to support access to power on campus,” the chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) said.

“We also undertake to design and construct a befitting Senate building that will house the administration of this institution.

“Finally, we will also reserve post-NYSC employment slots for the best performing graduates in Engineering and other related courses that form part of our areas of interest at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and Dangote Cement Plants,” he added.

Mr Dangote said the funding for such an institution places a significant burden on the government, which is why, through ADF, it was able to offset the university’s electricity bill to ease the strain on their finances.

“Additionally, to support the infrastructural drive of the University, we built two blocks of Male and Female Hostels with 500 bed spaces each.

“We also ensured the availability of electricity in a specialized university like ours for continuous teaching, learning and research, via the connection of the university to a 33KVA line, and provided a 2.5 MVA transformer and six (6) step-down transformers. This, I believe, has gone a long way in solving the energy needs of the university,” Mr Dangote stated.

He, therefore, congratulated the vision of those who dreamt of the institution 25 years ago.

“An institution that began with a student population of 88 today has a population of more than 21,877 students and this combined convocation has a total of about 18,000 graduates. This is indeed a milestone,” he added.

In his address, Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf of Kano State commended Mr Dangote for contributing financially and morally towards the development of the University, adding that, “All of us will continue to remember you as a visionary and African illustrious industrialist.”

The school’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Musa Tukur Yakasa, said 18,000 students were being celebrated during the convocation ceremony, having graduated from the university in the last 10 years to date.