2025 UTME Mop-Up: JAMB Attributes Low Turnout to Fear of Arrest Among Exam Cheats

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has attributed the low attendance recorded during the 2025 Mop-Up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which took place nationwide on Saturday, 28th June, to the fear of arrest among impersonators and examination cheats.

This was revealed in the board’s weekly bulletin, following comments made by the registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, while speaking to journalists after inspecting the examination at the Technology CBT Centre, NAF Valley Estate, Abuja.

He stated that although more than 90,000 candidates were scheduled to sit for the mop-up examination, significantly fewer turned up.

Some centres that had prepared for 250 candidates per session reported fewer than 20 attendees.

The apparent fear of being arrested seemed to discourage many individuals, particularly those suspected of using proxies or committing identity fraud during the original UTME.

Oloyede further explained that some private school owners and tutorial centre operators had created organised groups to commit fraud, and many of them were now avoiding the exam to escape arrest by security forces.

“Because what you have is a bunch of fraudulent individuals parading themselves as tutorial centres along with some private school proprietors who have constituted themselves into syndicates for examination malpractice,” he said.

He noted that although around 12,000 candidates had reprinted their examination slips to show their intention to take the test, the majority did not show up due to the ongoing efforts to combat malpractice.

“Given the work that we have done in conjunction with the DSS, the NSCDC and the police, we have been able to get some actionable intelligence that we could use to apprehend impersonators. So, we felt that it’s better to keep the door open as wide as possible. At least to apprehend impersonators,” Oloyede said.

The Registrar pointed out that the unusually large number of candidates eligible for this year’s mop-up examination was the result of a high rate of absenteeism during the main UTME, which prompted the Board to allow all those affected another chance, regardless of why they had missed the first exam.

“Therefore, in the wisdom of the management and our stakeholders, we felt everybody who missed the exam should be given another opportunity, regardless of the reasons for missing the exam in the first instance.”

He disclosed that security agencies had already begun making arrests by using the information gathered from registration, including candidates’ names, school details, NINs, and phone numbers.

“They registered with their name. They have schools. They have their respective NINs and we also have their phone numbers. All these would enable security agencies to pick them up easily. And indeed, quite a number of them have already been picked up,” he said.

Oloyede also expressed appreciation to the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, for his strong commitment to addressing examination malpractice in the country.

“The determination of the Minister to lead this war would no doubt reduce to the barest minimum the huge number of examination malpractice cases recorded in the country,” he said.

JAMB had earlier announced that the mop-up UTME for 2025 would take place on Saturday, 28th June, targeting certain categories of candidates. These included individuals who were absent from both the original and rescheduled UTME sessions, those who experienced biometric verification problems, and 5,096 candidates carried over from previous batches.

According to the Board, 91,742 candidates who were absent in either or both of the main and rescheduled examinations were given this special opportunity, which was limited to the 2025 examination cycle.

In total, 96,838 candidates were set to take part in the mop-up examination, which was held at 183 centres across the country.