The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, has admitted to errors in the just released 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

Oloyede broke into tears as he apologised for the errors in the examination on Wednesday during a briefing in Abuja.

“I apologise for the trauma caused to the candidates,” he said.

The board said a total of 379,997 candidates in the five states of the Southeast geographical zone and Lagos were affected by the glitches in the results.

“206,610 in 65 centres were affected in Lagos, and 92 centres in Owerri zone comprising 173,387 candidates in the five states of the South East were affected,” it said.

Meanwhile, of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the UTME, over 1.5 million reportedly scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 marks, raising concerns across the education sector.

According to the examination agency, a total of 1,955,069 results were processed, out of which only 4,756 candidates (0.24 per cent) scored 320 and above, considered top-tier performance, while 7,658 candidates (0.39 per cent) scored between 300 and 319, bringing the total for those who scored 300 and above to 12,414 candidates (0.63 per cent).

Also, 73,441 candidates (3.76 per cent) scored between 250 and 299, while 334,560 candidates (17.11 per cent) scored between 200 and 249.

A total of 983,187 candidates (50.29 per cent) scored between 160 and 199, which is widely regarded as the minimum threshold for admissions in many institutions.

In the same vein, 488,197 candidates (24.97 per cent) scored between 140 and 159, 57,419 candidates (2.94 per cent) scored between 120 and 139, 3,820 candidates (0.20 per cent) scored between 100 and 119, and 2,031 candidates (0.10 per cent) scored below 100.

Over 75 per cent of all candidates (1.5 million) scored below 200, average score, seeing as the examination is graded over 400.