A disastrous system glitch that crushed the hopes of almost 380,000 students leading to horrible outcomes
Timilehin, a 19-year-old, woke up on the day she would see her university entrance exam scores. She felt optimistic. This quiet bright student from Abeokuta had studied hard for Nigeria’s crucial Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Her family had spent their scarce money on classes and help. Her future looked promising.
Later that day, she ended her life.
Timilehin’s death by suicide after getting a disappointing 190 score—way lower than expected and her last year’s result—has turned into a tragic symbol of a nationwide crisis gripping most populous nation. Her passing shows the human cost of a huge technical glitch that has thrown the university dreams of a whole generation into disarray.
“Man proposes, God disposes”
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the government group in charge of running Nigeria’s university entrance tests first replied to complaints about low scores with a dismissive tweet: “Man proposes, God disposes.”
This unserious response came when more than 1.5 million out of 2 million candidates who sat for the exam got less than 200 out of 400—the lowest score needed to get into university. Students with stellar academic records in the past watched in shock as their plans for the future seemed to fall apart in one night.
“My daughter did not eat for two days,” said Mrs. Oluwaseun Adebayo from Lagos, her voice cracking. “She kept asking us to check her result again. She was sure she should have scored above 300 based on how she did.”
For 19 days, JAMB stuck to its guns saying there was no mistake. Only after intense public pressure did the organisation finally admit that a “combination of human error and technology” had affected 157 examination centres, predominantly in Lagos and the Southeast, impacting 379,997 candidates.
According to JAMB’s belated explanation, a software patch for a new marking system had not been properly deployed. While exam servers in Kaduna processed results correctly, those in Lagos and the Southeast ran outdated code, producing flawed outcomes.
Babatunde Peace Ifeoluwa, who scored 278 in 2024 but got 169 this year voiced the heartbreak felt by thousands: “I’ve wasted a year of my life. Who makes up for that?”
The system failure manifested in multiple ways during the examination period: students had trouble logging in, system shut down, freezing screens, and even missing questions. Most disturbingly, JAMB was aware of these issues after just 17 exam sessions but proceeded to release the compromised results anyway.
“You can’t make almost 400,000 young people suffer and then just say sorry,” an angry parent wrote online echoing the feelings around country.
The UTME’s huge influence in Nigerian culture cannot be overstated. In a country where educational opportunities are limited and economic prospects often depend on university credentials, this single examination carries the weight of determining a young person’s entire future.
“Failing a test doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It means you tried,” said Michael Jacob of Emotion Compass Academy. He’s one of many mental health experts now speaking up about the immense stress put on students. But this view is uncommon in Nigeria’s education system.
The geographic disparity of the glitch—predominantly affecting Lagos and the Southeast—has added another layer of controversy, fuelling suspicions of systemic bias. With the Southeast being predominantly Igbo, rumours of ethnic targeting have intensified existing tensions.
The Odogunyan community in Ikorodu where Timilehin lived, feel angry about her death. “She showed promise,” said a resident who wanted to stay anonymous. “She thought that score had ruined all her chances. The system let her down.”
Social media lit up with sorrow and fury after news of the suicide broke, with many calling the situation “a national tragedy” that showed the human toll of institutional shortcomings.
Peter Obi, who ran for president, said the results pointed to “years of not putting enough money into education,” while education supporter Alex Onyia shared plans for more than 8,000 candidates to take JAMB to court asking for detailed marking sheets and score checks.
JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede has at last said sorry and stated that affected candidates will get another chance to take their exams starting May 16th. But many students and parents think this response doesn’t do enough and comes too late.
The new exam dates cause new problems: students must travel again to test centres often far from where they live spending more money on transport and places to stay. Many worry universities will decide on admissions before they can retake the exam.
The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) wants quick changes doubting how trustworthy the whole UTME process is and pointing out bigger problems in Nigeria’s school system.
The computer glitch has revealed wider problems in Nigerian schools: lack of money, teachers without proper training old-fashioned lessons, and 18.3 million kids not in school.
With just 0.63% of students getting 300 points or more, experts think these scores show the school system is falling apart uncovered by JAMB’s efforts to stop cheating.
For families like Timilehin’s, these big problems have cost them . As Nigeria deals with the aftermath, many wonder how many more young people will have to suffer before real changes happen.
“We can’t let her death be for nothing,” an activist posted on X. “We need to overhaul JAMB and how we approach education and our young people’s mental health.”
This week almost 380,000 students are getting ready to take their exams again. They’re not just carrying their academic goals, but also the burden of promises their country didn’t keep.
