The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has finalised all arrangements to conduct the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) slated to hold between April 16 and 22, 2026.
According to JAMB, 2.2million candidates are expected to sit the UTME in about 966 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres across Nigeria, following the deletion of 23 centres for poor performance in the recently-concluded Mock-UTME.
The board spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made this known in the examination body’s bulletin released on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
Benjamin stated: “It is expected by now that all the candidates must have printed out their examination slips for the exercise.
“Candidates who have not done so are to visit our website at https://www.jamb.gov.ng and click on 2026 Slip Printing to print.
“The slip contained vital information such as the date of examination, time, venue, and other critical data that would facilitate a seamless examination and biometric verification exercise.”
The JAMB spokesman said necessary arrangements have been made for candidates living with disabilities to be processed through the machinery put in place by the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG) headed by the former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola.
“Candidates are also to note that prohibited items are not allowed in the examination hall as the Board will not hesitate to invoke all extant laws on examination malpractices and unwholesome behaviours during and after the examination,” he added.
Benjamin noted that adequate provisions have been made for candidates with other challenges to sit the examination, saying JAMB has all it takes to conduct an all-inclusive examination in line with international best practices.
Benjamin said relevant technology has been deployed to safeguard the sanctity of the examination.
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Meanwhile, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has urged parents to formally protest to the board if their wards are qualified but were not admitted, noting that the board’s Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) has eliminated any form of so-called “connection”, “long leg” or “man-no-man” headlining unfair and underhand admissions in the country.
The bulletin quoted Oloyede as saying this in a recent interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Channels Television.
Oloyede decried the desperation of some parents, who, he said, sometimes engage in illegality to ensure that their children secure admission by hook or crook.
He also recalled how some parents had contacted him to solicit admission for their wards not knowing that he did not do anything either by lobbying or influencing anyone “as such requests for placement, more often than not, are treated on merit because of the deployment of CAPS, a platform that made the conduct of admission easier, fairer, and gives equal opportunity regardless of candidates’ social status.”
The JAMB boss said: “Unknown to them, I didn’t do anything because we have a system that works and eliminates inappropriate behaviours and infractions.
“CAPS not only streamlines the admissions process, addresses challenges associated with the manual approach, restores the autonomy of tertiary institutions with respect to admissions, makes candidates the focus and empowers them with information on available choices of institutions and programmes, expands admission opportunities, but also eliminates multiple admissions, corruption and provides easily-retrievable data for decision making and research on the education sector in the country.”
He explained that CAPS also helps JAMB to focus on its founding ideals as the clearing house for admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Oloyede, therefore, urged parents to protest to JAMB if parents feel that their wards are eminently qualified to be admitted but are unjustly denied.
The Registrar also explained the extant guidelines on admission, saying it centres on Merit, Catchment Area, and Educationally-disadvantaged States and the percentages allotted to these three critical groups.
On the new test engine also known as alternate examination route system, Oloyede said the idea was conceived to increase security, reduce operational stress during the examination and mitigate certain concerns and risks.
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