As registration for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination begins today, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has withdrawn the special concession and registration procedures previously granted to candidates with albinism, citing abuse of the privilege to perpetrate examination malpractice.
The Board also directed faith based institutions to clearly declare their status from the outset, warning that presenting themselves as secular to attract applicants, only to later impose religious rules, amounts to deception.
These resolutions were reached at the weekend during a meeting between JAMB management, led by the Registrar, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, and commissioners for education from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The meeting was held in Ikeja, Lagos.
Oloyede explained that the meeting was convened to review and assess previous examination exercises, noting that despite several safeguards introduced by the Board, some individuals remain determined to undermine the system.
“We have stopped some concessions we gave albino candidates. This is because some are using Artificial Intelligence, AI, to manipulate the registration process to look like they are albinos because of the consideration we gave them. Last year alone, over 7,000 claimed to be albinos. We have stopped special registration procedures for albinos,” he said.
Addressing complaints by candidates admitted into some private institutions over religious rules and instructions, the registrar urged such schools to be transparent about their identity from the beginning.
“Faith-based institutions should declare from the onset what they are, so that whoever applies there will know what he is going to meet there, but some don’t do that. They will pretend to be secular in nature but when students are now admitted, trouble will begin regarding religious instructions and injunctions.
“If you are a faith-based institution, say so. The law allows you to set up faith-based schools.”
On revelations last year that the highest scoring UTME candidate was already a 300 level university student, Oloyede said investigations showed that some undergraduates sit for the examination either to change courses or to assist others in securing admission.
“Students who are already in school but want to change courses and are applying again must declare and disclose their status. We have found out that some candidates already in school do write the examination for other candidates.
“Last year, the candidate who scored the highest, out of curiosity, we did a background check on him and found out that he was a 300 level student in the university. Henceforth, any candidate who is found engaging in such an act, and who failed to disclose that he is already in school but wants to change course, will be disqualified and also lose his current admission,” he added.
Explaining admission criteria, Oloyede said federal government owned institutions allocate 45 per cent for merit, 20 per cent for catchment areas, 20 per cent for educationally disadvantaged states, with the remaining percentage allocated to other considerations.
He added, “Each owner or state has the right to decide what their admission criteria will be. But for states, we encourage them to make at least 10 per cent for merit, not minding where the candidates come from. This is to diversify the student population and admit egg heads from different communities.”
He criticised some states for establishing new universities despite failing to fully utilise their admission quotas in existing federal institutions.
On underaged candidates, Oloyede explained that an attestation process is required.
“There is attestation to be signed for underaged candidates. Last year, we had about 42,000 claiming to be underaged. After evaluation and assessment of their claims, only 78 were able to meet the criteria set and got admitted to universities. We are not saying there are no talented candidates, but the figure here looks outlandish.
“For now, 16 years is the admission age and if anybody is not up to that age, he has to meet the requirement of scoring 80 per cent in the UTME and the post-UTME screening. Some people are saying there should be something that can be done to fill the gap year before they are old enough to be admitted at 16 years.
“Going by the country’s education policy and if people stick to the rules, most students should be close to 16 before admission year.”
Discussions on how to manage underaged candidates divided the meeting, with some participants suggesting that the Board should create programmes to engage such candidates during their gap year.
Oloyede, however, put the issue to a vote, and the majority agreed that JAMB should continue with its special assessment process for underaged candidates.
The meeting observed that parental pressure on children to complete their education early is a major contributor to the problem.
Speaking on new measures to curb examination malpractice, Oloyede said the Board had stopped the movement of computers between CBT centres.
“A computer that is registered in a particular centre will remain there and not transferable to another centre. Some people, because they want their centres to be accredited, would go and borrow computers from different sources and after we have thought they are qualified and accredit them, then they will be moving the computers from one place to the other,” he said.
He emphasised that candidates are never posted to towns they did not select during registration.
“We don’t post candidates to towns they did not choose. Name, state and other vital information of a candidate is got from the NIN they submit for registration. We don’t misspell names because we don’t tamper with that.”
Providing an update on the previous UTME exercise, Oloyede disclosed that 974,855 candidates had so far secured admission out of approximately 1.95 million who sat for the examination.
He also revealed that the Board had disbursed over N2.4 billion to institutions that consistently complied with its regulations over the past ten years.
The meeting further resolved that schools producing the best candidates should receive compensation.
On the accreditation of CBT centres, Oloyede said the process is carried out by a team that includes a university vice chancellor, a rector and a provost in each state.
He warned state governments against entering agreements with private CBT centre promoters who may attempt to use such centres to facilitate examination malpractice.
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