The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced plans to sue the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over the alleged massive failure recorded in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
ASUU-UNN chairman, Óyibo Eze, expressed these concerns during a press briefing in Nsukka on Wednesday. Eze criticized the results, which he claims disproportionately affected candidates from the South East region, accusing JAMB of deliberately hindering students from the area from securing university admissions.
"My office has been inundated with protests, calls, and visits by parents and the general public regarding this deliberate massive failure in the 2025 JAMB examination," Eze stated. He warned that ASUU would take the matter to the High Court if JAMB did not reassess and correct the scores to reflect students' true performance.
Eze highlighted the disparity in admission requirements, noting that students from the South East are expected to achieve higher scores compared to other regions, where lower scores suffice for admission into competitive courses like medicine. He pointed out that of the 1,955,069 candidates who sat for the exam, over 1.5 million scored below 200, with a significant number from the South East and Lagos State, where many Igbo students reside.
He called on governors from the South East to actively challenge what he described as an injustice aimed at preventing children from the zone from entering higher education. "The governors in the zone should not sit and watch JAMB toy with the academic future of our children," he urged.
Eze emphasized that while he is not opposed to penalizing those involved in exam malpractices, it is unjust to penalize entire exam centers. He cited the example of the University Secondary School in Nsukka, where no student reportedly scored above 200, despite the school's history of academic excellence.
He advised JAMB to urgently review the examination results, stressing that the situation has escalated into a national issue that could lead to widespread protests if not addressed promptly.
Later on Wednesday, JAMB admitted there were errors in its grading of the 2025 UTME.
