The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that it withheld the results of 39,834 candidates of the over 1.9 million applicants in the just concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Board also revealed that 80 suspects across the country were under interrogation for examination fraud with Anambra State leading the pack with 14 suspects.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stated this on Friday while officially releasing the 2025 UTME.

He also disclosed that while 41,000 underage candidates registered for the exercise, 467 met the prescribed minimum score, adding that 50 were engaged in cheating scandals.

He explained that out of 2,030,862 candidates that registered for the examination, 1,911,551 results were released, 71,705 absent and 2,157 fingerprints rejected.

“This failure was beyond the acceptable normal margin of failure. Subsequent discoveries in this regard indicated that a number of the candidates whose fingers were unrecognised had one question of registration infraction or another to answer.

“The 2025 UTME showed the prevalence of some particular types of infractions, which suggests systemic vulnerabilities or gaps in registration and examination administration or/and monitoring.

“The new trends observed were in the Registration and Examination processes and they were mainly in the following categories: Identity Fraud and Biometric Fraud of Combined Thumbprint of Candidate,” he said.

Other infractions, he said, were impersonations at the point of registration with the active involvement of few CBT Centres, double registration, and attempted substitution of self by candidates .

Oloyede added that 244 candidates were caught in what he called “WhatsApp runs, subscribing to rogue groups promising leaked questions.”

He said their results were also withheld to set a stern example.

He stated that in some cases, the entire syndicate colluded with CBT centres to register using multiple fingerprints.

According to him, “as a result of this, 3,656 candidates with ‘extraneous fingerprints’ have had their results withheld, and some CBT centres implicated will face sanctions.”

He identified the centres as Tigh Technologies Limited, Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja; Wudil Computer Information Technology, Wudil, Kano State and Penta M &Amp; Centre 2, Tambuwal Local Council, Sokoto, Sokoto State.

“The Board has identified the presence of extraneous fingers in the registration details of some of these candidates. This raises concerns regarding potential strategies for impersonation.

“A total of 3,656 candidates fall within this category. Consequently, the results of the candidates have been withheld.”

He said that the Board remains committed to providing the necessary support for persons with disabilities aspiring to pursue tertiary education.

He disclosed that for the 2025 UTME, a total of 501 candidates were successfully examined by JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG) across 11 centres nationwide.

“The results are also being released but sadly, one of them was also involved in impersonation,” he noted.

Oloyede also said that due to substandard performance, four centres had been delisted and blacklisted for technical deficiencies.

He listed the centres as Adventure Associate, Behind Sheshe Supermarket, Kano; Saadatu Rimi College of Education, Zaria; Soronara Ventures Nigeria Limited Foundation Road, Umudagu Mbieri, Mbaitoli, Imo State and HSS Amazing, Holy Saviour School 30/32, Old Ota Road, Adeleye, Aparadija, Isunba, Lafenwa, Itele, Ogun State.

He stated that a list of those blacklisted for fraudulent practices would soon be made public with details of their nefarious activities.

Oloyede maintained that in spite of challenges, the 2025 UTME had been hailed as one of the most successful in recent years.

He reaffirmed the Board’s commitment to zero-tolerance on malpractice, pledging continued innovation to protect the credibility of public examinations.

On how to check the UTME results, Oloyede said: “To check the 2025 UTME results, candidates should send by text message “UTMERESULT” as one word to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number they had used to register during the registration process. Result printing will be available later.”