A member of the House of Representatives and leader of the South-East Caucus, Iduma Igariwey, has called for the outright cancellation of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), citing what he described as a “catastrophic institutional failure” by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Igariwey lamented the loss of integrity and fairness in the examination process. “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.
He emphasized the need for the exam to be conducted “the proper way, the right way,” insisting that JAMB cannot simply “paper over an examination and say they have gone on with the exam.” His call follows JAMB’s admission that nearly 400,000 candidates must retake the UTME due to a “technical glitch” and “human error” during the original exam.
Igariwey further explained, “If you recall, you see that we were very restrained in taking a decision. The caucus reacted to what Professor Ishaq (Oloyede) told Nigerians on the 14th of May.” He described the incident as unprecedented, noting the shock it caused nationwide.
The rescheduled retake was set for May 16, only 48 hours after the announcement, but many candidates were unable to attend, raising concerns about fairness. “So JAMB cannot just, after two days, set another set of exams. You haven’t even told Nigerians that you have corrected whatever led to the initial problem,” Igariwey stated.
Earlier, the South-East Caucus had demanded the resignation of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, alongside the cancellation of the 2025 UTME nationwide, citing the board’s failure to uphold its constitutional duty to provide equal educational opportunities.
