South-East Senators Raise Alarm Over UTME Glitch, Demand Accountability From JAMB

The South-East Senate Caucus has voiced serious concern over the recent technical disruption of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across several centres in Lagos and the entire South East region, describing the incident as “curious, suspicious,” and potentially damaging to national unity and educational equity.

In a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja, the caucus, through its chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, condemned the disruption, which led to the rescheduling of exams for thousands of candidates.

While acknowledging efforts by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to remedy the situation, the senators maintained that the glitch raises troubling questions about systemic bias and fairness in Nigeria’s education sector.

“The so-called glitch—as curious and suspicious as it were—is enough to erode confidence and dangerously lower national pride among the future generation,” Abaribe said.

Although JAMB, through its Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has publicly apologized and expressed regret over the failure, the lawmakers remain unconvinced about the nature of the incident, warning against dismissing it as mere coincidence.

“It would be disheartening—and we hope not to contemplate such a conspiracy theory—that there is a narrow agenda being pursued to deliberately shortchange and harm the future of our children,” Abaribe added.

The caucus noted that the occurrence of the technical disruption exclusively in the South East region warrants deeper investigation. They stressed that the issue should not be brushed aside, especially given its potential to deepen regional distrust and exacerbate national divisions.

According to the statement, “That the glitch happened in the whole of South East raises pertinent questions that must be answered by JAMB to assuage the growing frustrations and fears among the people of the region, particularly the children who are directly at the receiving end.”

The lawmakers emphasized that education is a fundamental pillar of national development and warned that any attempt—whether by design or negligence—to undermine it would not be tolerated.

“Education remains one of the most important bedrocks of any society’s advancement. Every child is entitled to it; therefore, we must not play roulette with it,” the caucus asserted.

Senator Abaribe called on JAMB and other relevant educational agencies to provide firm assurances and take concrete steps to prevent future occurrences, stressing that the Senate caucus remains vigilant and committed to safeguarding the interests of students in the South-East.

South-East Senators Raise Alarm Over UTME Glitch, Demand Accountability From JAMB is first published on The Whistler Newspaper