Parents fear WAEC, UTME overlap as resits begin today

Exam hall

Parents of the candidates affected by the human error which led to a glitch in the 2025 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination have demanded the postponement of the planned resit, which begins today, till June 2025.

A post from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on its official X handle on Thursday stated, “…all the affected candidates will be contacted to reprint their examination slips towards retaking their examinations starting from 16th May, 2025 (today).”

One of the affected students posted on X the SMS he received after getting notification for the examination.

“You have been scheduled to sit the 2025 UTME Resit examination slated for Friday, May 16, 2025 by 12:00 pm. To know your centre, reprint your Examination slip by visiting.”

Some of the parents, who spoke in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Thursday, cited the traumatic experiences of the candidates, the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination, and the distance to the exam centres, among other issues.

On Wednesday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board admitted a technical error that affected over 300,000 candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

Speaking during a press conference, the JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor, expressed deep regret over what he described as a disappointing setback in the exercise that had, until the glitch, been considered one of the most successful in recent years.

“So, I appeal to the candidates and those affected by the error of our system to accept this explanation as the truth of the matter without embellishment, please. I apologise and take full responsibility, not just in words,” he said.

Oloyede said the issue affected 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.

He said the glitch affected 206,610 candidates across 65 centres in Lagos State and 173,387 candidates in 92 centres across South East states.