The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) branch, has warned that it may take legal action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) following the large-scale failure recorded in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Speaking to journalists in Nsukka on Wednesday, ASUU-UNN Chairman, Comrade Óyibo Eze, said the Union had received numerous complaints from concerned parents and members of the public. He noted that the pattern of the UTME results, particularly among candidates from the South East and parts of Lagos where many Igbos live, raised serious concerns about fairness and transparency in the conduct and grading of the exam.
“My office has been inundated with protests, calls and visits by parents and the general public on this deliberate massive failure in the 2025 JAMB examination,” he said.
According to Comrade Eze, out of nearly two million candidates who took the 2025 UTME, over 1.5 million scored below 200 — the majority of whom, he claims, were from the South East region. He questioned why students from certain parts of the country allegedly gain admission to study competitive courses like medicine with scores as low as 120, while South Eastern candidates must score much higher.
Eze also said ASUU would take the matter to court if JAMB does not take steps to review and adjust the results appropriately. “ASUU will challenge this result in the High Court if JAMB fails to review the result and give candidates their merited scores,” he warned.
He further called on South East governors to defend the educational rights of their people and not allow what he described as a “targeted injustice” to continue. “The governors in the zone should not sit and watch JAMB toy with the academic future of our children,” he stated.
Citing the performance of students from University Secondary School, Nsukka, Eze expressed disbelief that none of the candidates from the institution scored up to 200. He described the students as high achievers who have consistently done well academically, and questioned the credibility of the exam process.
“This school has superlative students who have excelled in academics both inside and outside the school; how come all of them scored less than 200 in the exam?”
While acknowledging the need to penalize individuals caught in examination malpractice, Eze urged JAMB not to punish all students due to the actions of a few. “Even if JAMB discovered one or two candidates for exam malpractice, is that enough reason to fail all others who have prepared very hard for that exam?”
He urged JAMB to urgently re-evaluate the results and correct any errors to prevent possible national unrest. “The massive failure has become a national issue which might attract national protest if nothing urgent was done,” he noted.
