No fewer than 40 persons have been arrested and are facing prosecution for impersonating candidates during the ongoing 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has disclosed.
This is as many parents and guardians are lamenting that the 6.30 am resumption time for the exam was too early for candidates, adding that many may have to travel several kilometres to their examination centres.
The 2025 UTME, which commenced on Thursday, April 24, will run until Monday, May 5.
According to JAMB, over 2,030,627 candidates are sitting for this year’s examination across accredited Computer-Based Test centres nationwide.
A mother of a candidate who claimed to live in Awoyaya in the Lekki area of Lagos but whose 14-year-old son was posted to a centre in Ikorodu stated that the young man may miss the examination because of the time.
“The examination slip states that candidates are expected at the centre by 6.30am. So, that means my son must be on the road by 4 am. I don’t drive. We don’t have a car. He would have to take a bus.
Even if I decide to go with him, how are we supposed to get a bus at that time, and how are we supposed to get to Ikorodu before 6.30am?
“This is wickedness. JAMB should look into this and move the exam forward. 6.30am for an examination is too early.”
A guardian, Olaoluwa Yinka, lamenting on X, wrote, “My younger sister has just travelled today for her UTME tomorrow morning. From Abeokuta, she was sent to Ijebu Igbo by 6.30am. This is very absurd.
“When I wrote JAMB, I did so around 9 am and the heavens did not fall. This CBT is the problem. Students get to the centre, and sometimes the systems don’t work as well.”
Another X user, Lucas Oluwadare (@lucasoluwadare1), wrote, “My younger sister is scheduled to sit the exams tomorrow by 6.30am, too. She has to come sleep over at my apartment since it’s closer, so she will meet up as early as possible tomorrow morning. The anyhowness of this country is top notch.”
Social media activist, Rinu Oduala, tweeted, “Again, why are you scheduling exams for 6.30am, @JAMBHQ? And expect teenagers to find their ways 50km plus away from home? How can educated people make nonsensical policies for citizens and kids in this country? Does it make any sense?”
A mother, Nnem Chacha-Gold, who spoke to this reporter on Saturday, said her only daughter had to leave home by 4.30am to get to the venue of her exam by 6.30am.
“I had to follow my daughter to her centre in Ikorodu from Ejigbo. When I got there, they said we (parents) were not welcome at the centre. I even learnt that candidates slept outside their centres to meet up. I can’t imagine my own child sleeping on the street overnight just to meet up. Goodness!”
Meanwhile, a young female candidate, said to be 16 years old, Esther Oladele, was said to have missed her way to her centre.
Speaking on the issue of impersonation, Benjamin lamented the persistent cases of malpractice despite the board’s efforts to sanitise the examination process.
He noted that although other countries have successfully conducted centralised examinations remotely, Nigeria’s context made such innovation impracticable for now.
“If Nigerians want comfort, let us behave very well. If we are transparent, we can do these CBT exams at home and submit them online. We will just send questions to them and they will answer and send them back to us. Then, we will grade and send them back the results,” Benjamin said. “But, you know what will happen if we try to do that. Several countries are doing their central examinations from home. But, can we do that in Nigeria?”
UTME starts at 8am, not 6am – JAMB
Benjamin also clarified that the ongoing 2025 UTME commences at 8am daily, not at 6 am or 6.30am as widely misunderstood.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday, Benjamin explained that while candidates are expected to arrive at their designated CBT centres by 6.30am for necessary pre-examination formalities, the examination proper does not start until 8am.
“Our exams (UTME) start at 8am. There is no exam by 6am or 6.30am,” Benjamin said. “If you are flying today and your exam is by 8am, you are advised to be at the airport an hour or so before that time.
Addressing concerns about candidates having to leave home very early to meet the check-in time, Benjamin maintained that daybreak across Nigeria typically occurs around 6am, making it safe enough for candidates to set out early.
“In any case, 6.30am anywhere in Nigeria is daybreak. I came out today at 6am, and it was as bright as anything. But I need to stress that the examination is not at 6am. The first session of our exams starts at 8 am.
“But candidates are expected to be at the centre from 6.30am. Some of them still come by 7am or 7.30am. But if you come to that centre 30 minutes late, you won’t sit the examination because they must have done some preliminaries that you won’t be able to do.”
