The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has debunked a viral press release claiming that the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) had been postponed, declaring the notice fake and warning candidates not to be misled by its contents.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the board directed the public, particularly registered candidates, to disregard the circulating document, which it described as malicious and entirely unauthorised.
“Our attention has been drawn to the malicious press release stating that the 2026 UTME has been postponed. The general public, particularly the candidates, are by this notice informed that the press release is fake and did not emanate from us. Kindly disregard it. All activities on the 2026 UTME continue as scheduled,” the board stated.
JAMB confirmed that the main 2026 UTME remains on course and is scheduled to hold from Thursday, April 16 to Saturday, April 25, 2026.
The denial comes on the heels of the 2026 UTME Mock examination conducted on Saturday, March 28, which was marred by technical difficulties at a number of Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres across the country. Of the 224,597 candidates who registered for the mock examination, 152,586 successfully sat the test across 989 CBT centres nationwide.
In response to the lapses recorded, JAMB announced that over 20 CBT centres that experienced technical failures had been delisted from its approved centres roster.
“Over 20 CBT centres that experienced technical challenges have been delisted due to technical inadequacies,” the board stated.
Beyond the postponement hoax, JAMB also raised the alarm over a separate wave of fraud targeting candidates on WhatsApp, with unscrupulous individuals and groups claiming to have the capacity to manipulate and inflate examination scores.
The board was unequivocal in its warning, describing such claims as both false and criminal, and cautioning that any candidate found to be involved in such schemes risks outright cancellation of registration or withholding of examination results.
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