Nigerians have condemned the short notice given to candidates who will be retaking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) due to errors recorded in some areas.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has rescheduled the exam for 379,997 candidates in five states in the South East and Lagos, with the new exam dates starting from Friday, May 16, 2025.

Many candidates and stakeholders have condemned the short notice, citing concerns about the candidates’ ability to adequately prepare for the exam.

Some have suggested that the exam should have been pushed to after the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to give candidates more time to prepare.

“I don’t understand why JAMB couldn’t push the exam to after WAEC,” one candidate asked on social media. “These students are not running away. Give them ample time to prepare,” X User, Gospel, stated.

General Pushkin on X also asked, “Aren’t these students the same ones writing WASSCE and NECO? Why complicate their situation? JAMB is an objective CBT. JAMB should have less trouble dealing with this in shorter time frames than WAEC. Students who wish to resit can do so after the WAEC. It should be optional.”

Others have expressed concerns about the economic hardship in Nigeria and the emotional trauma that candidates have gone through.

“You know the economic hardship in Nigeria,” one commenter wrote. “Why not give them more time to recover and plan to write the exam?”

“The emotional trauma these kids went through has to heal. They are not in the right frame of mind to resit in such a short time. Haba!,” Ka-sha-mi added.

Also, one of the affected candidates, John Felix, a biology teacher, confirmed receiving a text message from JAMB informing him of the rescheduled date and time for the examination.
Felix expressed concern about the new schedule conflicting with another exam he has on the same day.

Some Nigerians have suggested that JAMB should have opted to remark the examination instead of re-administering the entire exam.

However, Alex Onyia, the Chief Executive Officer of Educare, believed that the decision to reschedule the exam was necessary to ensure fairness and accuracy.

Onyia, who was amongst the stakeholders to review the UTME, urged candidates affected by the error to remain calm and focused as they prepare for the rescheduled exam.

According to Onyia, JAMB worked tirelessly to navigate a scheduling nightmare, complicated by ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) exams and the looming National Examinations Council (NECO) timeline.

“When all internal attempts failed, they reached out to WAEC for support, and thankfully, WAEC responded with tremendous cooperation,” Onyia posted on the X platform.

While acknowledging that the new dates are close, Onyia emphasised that JAMB is working within a tight window to fix a complex mess.

He urged candidates to “dig deep and push forward with renewed resolve,” adding that the opportunity to retake the exam is a chance to prove that their initial scores did not reflect their true performance.

Onyia also noted that the vendor responsible for the error has been officially dropped and will not be given a second chance.

He expressed confidence in the resilience and brilliance of Nigerian youth, believing that their performance in the rescheduled exam will speak volumes.

Onyia also praised JAMB for working tirelessly to navigate a scheduling nightmare and for acknowledging their fault and providing a way forward.

“We’ve won a major victory—not just in securing a retest but in getting JAMB to acknowledge their fault and provide a way forward,” he said.