PROFESSOR Ishaq Oloyede management of Joint Administration and Matriculation (JAMB) purge was long overwhelming before the recent 2025 technical glitches that affected nearly 380,000 candidates in Lagos and the Southeast.
Professor Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, admitted to errors in the examination process, citing a failure in deploying updated grading software by one of JAMB’s service providers. Beyond the Registrar’s apology, there’s the need to review the key issues surrounding
technical glitches reporter.
The glitches occurred due to a failure to properly update some delivery servers, leading to incorrect results for candidates in 157 centers. Despite JAMB’s quality assurance mechanisms, the error went undetected prior to the release of the results.
Insider sources reveal that the board’s response to the crisis was initially slow, exacerbating the trauma and inconvenience caused to affected candidates. It’s obvious that to avoid such catastrophic tragedies, which led to a student committing suicide due to JAMB’s negligence must be halted at once.
I therefore recommend that JAMB improve its quality control by strengthening the quality assurance mechanisms to detect errors before results are released. Added to that is the enhancement of its service provider. That is ensuring that service providers are held accountable for their work and that JAMB has adequate oversight, including a backup strategy to shore up technical lapses of the primary network provider.
To be sure, the management should establish a plan to respond quickly and effectively to crises, minimizing trauma and inconvenience to candidates and parents who toiled daily for their success. Besides, there must be improved engagement that fosters transparent communication with candidates, parents, and stakeholders during crises to minimize the trauma.
Over time, JAMB seems to have misguided itself as the tax collector-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, declaring billions of naira collected from examination fees as profits from indigent students instead of investing in technology upgrades of infrastructure to prevent technical glitches and ensure seamless examination processes.
The government’s roles in the education of its citizens should ordinarily include funding and resource allocation for public education, infrastructure, and resources. The governments at all levels must create and implement education policies, standards, and regulations in the interest of the citizens.
That also includes equal access to quality education for all citizens, regardless of background, location, or socioeconomic status. The
Governments have to monitor and evaluate education quality, setting standards for curriculum, teaching, and assessment.
Lastly, government must, as a matter of obligation, provide training, support, and resources for teachers, including encouraging and promoting innovation and total improvement of education standards across the board.
By implementing these recommendations, JAMB can ‘drain the swamp’ to provide a more efficient, effective, and candidate-friendly examination process as the march for total literacy progresses.
Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: ikhideluckyerasmus@gmail.com
