A civil society organization, the Human Rights Watch Foundation Nigeria, has criticized calls for the resignation of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, over technical issues that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The group described the demand for Oloyede’s resignation as “premature, unfair” and driven by “selective outrage and political grandstanding”.
The South-East Caucus of the House of Representatives demanded Oloyede’s resignation and the cancellation of the 2025 UTME.
The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education Examination Bodies attributed the glitches to human error, describing it as avoidable negligence by JAMB.
The JAMB registrar accepted responsibility for the glitch and authorized free retakes for nearly 400,000 affected candidates.
The Human Rights Watch Foundation Nigeria praised Oloyede for taking responsibility and warned against scapegoating “genuine reformers”.
The group questioned why lawmakers singled out JAMB, while ignoring worse scandals in other institutions like INEC and CBN.
They called for a full-scale, transparent investigation and suspension of any JAMB official found culpable.
The group emphasized the need for courageous leadership that holds all public officers to the same standard
