By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Oluwafemi Opesusi, father of Faith Opesusi — whose tragic death was linked to her disappointment over her UTME score — has recounted how the incident unfolded. In an interview with BBC Pidgin, he revealed that his daughter, who took the exam in 2024 and scored highly, scored only 146 in the 2025 edition.

He lamented: “My daughter scored high during last year’s JAMB. This year, they gave her 146. The pain made her take her own life.”

Opesusi explained that Faith aspired to study microbiology but was devastated by her low score, which he said cut her dream short. “What was released was not her actual result,” he said. “The family was disappointed by her decision to end her life.”

He added: “Kids these days often feel overwhelmed. Faith was broken when she saw the score. If she had opened up about how she felt, we could have reassured her and given her hope.”

His elder sister, Opeyemi Opesusi, shared that she found Faith vomiting one day. When she asked what happened, Faith told her she had taken poisonous substances. Opeyemi recounted: “She started vomiting, and when I asked her, she said it was because she had taken poison. She later died at the hospital.”

Opeyemi described Faith as a hardworking, humble girl who was always candid. Faith was in Ikorodu, Lagos State, at the time of the incident. According to her sister, Faith was admitted last year but hadn’t enrolled because of the long distance. Despite scoring 289 in her previous UTME, she missed her preferred course and planned to rewrite in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had earlier released a statistical breakdown of the 2025 results, but recent revelations indicate that errors occurred due to a network glitch.

JAMB Registrar Ishaq Oloyede publicly admitted that there were mistakes in candidate scores, apologizing tearfully and announcing a resit for affected students. The resit examinations commenced on Friday, May 16, 2025, across Nigeria.

Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare, had previously sued JAMB amid rising outcry over unexpectedly low scores. Days before JAMB announced a system review, Onyia submitted a Freedom of Information request demanding transparency, giving the examination body seven days to respond.

He stated: “The destinies of these Nigerian students are my priority. They worked very hard, burnt candles, and deserve a transparent outcome. We need a public explanation of what went wrong, a public apology to the students, and the release of their mark sheets. Enough is enough!” On Tuesday, May 13, Onyia was officially invited to participate in JAMB’s public system review to address potential glitches.

Ongoing investigations have also raised questions about unusual results from high-performing states. Chidoka Osita, founder of the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, shared his reaction on a television program. He expressed appreciation for Oloyede’s transparency, saying: “I was impressed by his courage to admit there was a problem. JAMB has always managed setbacks well, and they have come back with clear evidence.”

He explained: “Something went wrong, and JAMB brought in experts. They tested the data, reviewed what the contractor did, and confirmed that the issues were limited to certain states. In fact, only six states experienced anomalies during the test.

“Interestingly, over the past 10 years, JAMB results have been fairly consistent, with scores typically below 200. But this year, some high-performing states submitted odd results, which tipped us off that something was wrong.”

He added: “One school sent me a report: of 45 students, 33 took the exam during the days with technical issues. Fortunately, by Monday, the contractor had fixed the upload problem, and those students scored better. Using various models, we confirmed the errors and concluded the results were compromised.”

Chidoka emphasized that technology is not infallible: “We shouldn’t give the false impression that as soon as you use computers, everything will be perfect. Problems can arise, but it’s how you resolve them that counts.”

He praised Oloyede’s empathy: “What stood out to me was his emotional response—his tears showed he truly cares about the students affected. He insisted on retesting every state, showing genuine concern for their futures.”

Finally, he explained: “Most people don’t realize that JAMB questions are often personalized. For example, if the question is: ‘In which continent is Nigeria?’ the answer options vary for each student. So, marking isn’t a simple scan-and-score process—it involves individual script review, which adds complexity.

“Now that errors have been identified, it’s good that 

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