The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Benjamin Kalu, has called for an independent system audit of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in response to the technical and administrative challenges that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Sunday, Mr. Kalu emphasized the need for JAMB to establish a more accessible mechanism for remarking and resolving grievances, especially for candidates who faced technical glitches or were dissatisfied with the hastily organized resit.
Sympathizing with affected candidates and their parents, the Deputy Speaker urged JAMB to strengthen its deployment validation protocols and ensure real-time monitoring during national examinations.
“Every system update must be thoroughly tested and confirmed across all server clusters before deployment during high-stakes examinations,” Mr. Kalu said.
He further recommended that JAMB publish anonymized, candidate-level result data to allow for independent verification and accommodate Freedom of Information (FOI) requests—a move he described as vital for restoring public trust in the examination body.
Mr. Kalu also called for an immediate review of technical and independent reports, including those from third-party educational technology companies that have compiled data on affected candidates. This, he said, is crucial for fully understanding the scope and implications of the UTME disruption.
While commending the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, for admitting the agency’s shortcomings, Mr. Kalu underscored that the integrity of national examinations must never be compromised by technical failures.
He added that students and parents had raised legitimate concerns about the rushed resit schedule, clashes with ongoing WAEC exams, and the psychological and logistical toll of traveling to distant test centers with limited notice.
Mr. Kalu assured Nigerians that the National Assembly remains committed to providing oversight and driving reforms that will strengthen the education sector and protect the rights of students.