The result analysis of the recently concluded 2025 University Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has been released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) following the conclusion of the examinations nationwide.
According to the results analysis, only 420,415 of the over 1.9 million candidates scored above 200 out of the total of 400.
2025 JAMB UTME Results Analysis
According to the results breakdown released by JAMB, 2031 (0.10%) scored below 100; 594,436 candidates (28%) scored between 100 and 160; while another 983,187 candidates (50.29%) scored between 160 and 199.
A total of 334,560 (17.11%) candidates scored between 200 and 249, while 73,441 (3.76%) scored between 250 and 299. Of the top performers, a total of 12,414 candidates (0.63%) scored 300 and above.
A Reflection of the Current State of the Education Sector
The latest results are a reflection of the decline that has bedeviled Nigeria’s educational sector in recent years. In 2024, only 23.9% of candidates scored above 200 in the examination. The year before that, it was 26.6%.
In 2022, it was 21.5%. The 2021 UTME was a write-off as only 12% scored above 200, while the percentage of those who scored above 200 in the 2020 UTME was only 20.7%.
There have been calls to strengthen the educational system in so many quarters, which has mostly gone unanswered, hence the reason why the educational sector looks to be in a state of emergency due to poor remuneration for teachers, infrastructural deficit, inadequate funding, among others.
To put the latest JAMB results into context, if all tertiary institutions were to fix 200 as their entry cut-off mark, only approximately 22% of candidates in the 2025 UTME would be eligible for admission into tertiary institutions. The ceiling gets higher for professional courses and other in-demand courses whose cut-off marks can go as high as 250.
It is difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for this decline in the educational sector because a combination of factors, ranging from faulty policies by the government and its agencies, unseriousness on the part of students, among others, are to blame.
It is, however, expected that the cut-off marks released by universities would be considerably lower for the 2025/2026 academic session in light of the general performance in the 2025 UTME.
