Reprinted UTME results in circulation not from us, JAMB says

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has dissociated itself from the results of the resit Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examination being circulated online. According to JAMB, the fake messages are being circulated through a spoofed version of its official 66019 shortcode.

In a statement issued by the Public Communication Advisor of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, JAMB explained that the forgers aim to deceive unsuspecting candidates. and commit fraud. “These messages instruct candidates—some of whom have already sat the resit examination and received their results—to reprint examination slips for another examination”, it explained.

JAMB claimed that it does not have a planned resit examination, and the public should ignore such directives.

“The only examination that JAMB is planning to conduct, which has yet to be scheduled, is the foreign examination held in nine countries across Europe, the Middle East, and certain African nations”, it claims.

The board added that a mop-up exam will be held in 2025 for candidates who missed the earlier sessions due to biometric issues or those granted waivers:

“Additionally, there will be a mop-up examination for candidates who missed the main and resit examinations and have been granted waivers only for 2025 to participate in the usual mop-up for those who experienced biometric failures.”

The statement concluded by calling on candidates and stakeholders to disregard the fake messages and wait for official communication regarding any future examination schedules.

“We urge the public to disregard these deceptive messages. Those qualified for the mop-up examination, as specified, will be duly notified once preparations are finalised.” 

JAMB’s unending troubles over the 2025 UTME

Recall that last week, the media was awash with reports that JAMB has released the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) resit, revealing a significant improvement in candidates’ performance, making it the best result since 2017. This follows a controversial initial exam marred by technical glitches, which prompted a resit for over 300,000 affected candidates.

The resit, which took place between May 16 and May 19, 2025, was scheduled after JAMB acknowledged technical and human errors that affected at least 379,000 candidates during the initial exam in April.

The errors, primarily in Lagos and South-East states, led to widespread outcry over mass failure, with over 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates initially scoring below 200. Following sustained pressure, JAMB conducted an audit and rescheduled the exam for affected candidates.

According to a comparative analysis shared by education advocate Alex Onyia (@winexviv) on X, the 2025 UTME results show a remarkable turnaround. Out of 1,931,467 total released results, 17,025 candidates (0.88%) scored 300 and above, a sharp increase from the 8,401 (0.46%) in 2024.

Additionally, 117,373 candidates (6.08%) scored 250 and above, compared to 77,070 (4.18%) the previous year, while 565,698 candidates (29.3%) scored 200 and above, up from 439,961 (24%) in 2024. This performance surpasses all years since 2017, when 19,889 candidates (0.12%) scored 300 and above out of 1,698,577 total results.

Onyia, who has been vocal about the initial errors in the 2025 UTME, celebrated the outcome, stating, “It is now clearly obvious that this is the best JAMB result since 2017, that’s since the last 9 years. From the worst result a few weeks ago to the best a few weeks later. I saw it, I knew it, and I was right!”

Onyia’s post was marked by the success stories of candidates who have shared on social media. These include a candidate, Nwadike Chukwubuikem Chidiebere, a candidate who scored 153 in the first examination and scored 361 in the second.

Another candidate saw his score improve from 142 in the first examination to 290 in the resit. Another claimed online that s/he scored 350, up from 173 in the first examination despite battling illness and preparing with only two days’ notice.

It is now unclear if these results have emanated from JAMB until the examination board confirms the conclusion of the process.