The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that a blind candidate hired another visually impaired individual to impersonate him in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this at a press briefing on Friday in Abuja. He said the impersonator, an undergraduate, was caught writing the exam on behalf of the actual candidate.
“Sadly, one of the blind candidates was found to have engaged an undergraduate, who is also blind, to sit the exam for him,” Oloyede said.
Despite the incident, Oloyede reiterated the board’s commitment to supporting persons with disabilities in accessing tertiary education. He praised the ongoing efforts of the Prof. Peter Okebukola-led JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), which oversees examination arrangements for visually impaired and other challenged candidates.
“For the 2025 UTME, 501 blind candidates were examined across 11 centres nationwide. The results are being released today,” Oloyede stated. He added that JAMB continues to refund registration fees and cover transport, accommodation, and feeding costs for eligible candidates with special needs.
The 2025 UTME results were officially released on Friday. Of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the exam, over 1.5 million scored below 200 out of a total of 400.
Commenting on the performance, Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa said the results demonstrate the government’s progress in tackling exam malpractice and restoring credibility to the examination process.