Ohanaeze Youth Demand Automatic 300 UTME Score for South-East Candidates, Reject Resit Over JAMB Error

The youth wing of the Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to award an automatic score of 300 to all South-East candidates affected by the recently acknowledged errors in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Their demand follows JAMB’s announcement of plans to reschedule the UTME for 379,997 candidates, including those from the five South-East states and Lagos, due to technical and administrative issues that led to widespread scoring discrepancies.

In a strongly worded statement released on Thursday, May 15, the National President of the youth council, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, rejected the proposal for a retake, labeling it as an unacceptable imposition on already distressed candidates.

“Our people will not accept another round of mental torture, stress, and risk,”

Okwu said.

“These students have suffered enough from the release of fake results. Asking them to retake the exam is both unjust and inhumane.”

He criticized the plan as inconsiderate, pointing out the financial burden on families, the emotional toll on candidates, and the risks associated with travel in an increasingly insecure environment.

According to Okwu, the fault lies entirely with JAMB and not the candidates, warranting compensation rather than re-examination.

“JAMB should grant a minimum score of 300 to all affected candidates from the South-East. Igbos are naturally brilliant and many of them would have scored that or higher under normal circumstances,”

he asserted.

He went further to allege regional bias, calling the situation a “deliberate design to deny South-East youths access to education.”

Okwu warned that failure to meet their demands would result in legal action.

“If JAMB refuses to act justly, we will not hesitate to take them to court. No apologies or explanations from the Registrar will be enough to cover this injustice,”

he concluded.