The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced new monitoring measures, age eligibility rules and registration timelines ahead of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry exercises. The updates were disclosed in Lagos on Saturday during a meeting with Commissioners for Education.
Speaking at the meeting, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said UTME registration will take place from January 26 to February 28 at all approved Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide. He clarified that the sale of UTME application documents, known as the ePIN, will begin earlier than the registration period.
“The sale of UTME application document which is the ePIN, will start earlier than commencement of actual registration which is January 19 to February 26. Actual UTME registration period is between January 26 to Febuary 28 at all approved CBT Centres,” Oloyede said.
He disclosed that the selection for the mock examination will close on February 16. He also said the sale of Direct Entry (DE) application documents and ePIN vending will begin on March 2 and close on April 25.
“The close of mock selection is February 16 while the sale of DE application documents and E-PIN vending will commence on March 2, and close by April 25,” he added.
On monitoring, the registrar announced tighter oversight of registration centres, noting that all CBT centres will be monitored live from JAMB headquarters.
“Any centre whose registration activities cannot be viewed from the headquarters will not be paid, while such registration may be invalidated,” he warned.
Oloyede disclosed that 924 CBT centres have been screened and provisionally listed, but said the centres will still undergo a final test before full accreditation. “They will go through the final test before final accreditation,” he said.
On payments, the registrar stated that candidates are not required to pay any service charges to CBT centres.
He also spoke on complaints about candidates being posted to distant examination locations, stating that candidates will not be posted outside the towns selected during registration.
“The choice of a group of towns implies that candidates can be posted to any of the towns in the chosen group,” he explained.
Oloyede warned candidates to declare any previous registration or admission history, citing cases of malpractice recorded during the previous UTME. He stressed that it is a criminal offence to run more than one undergraduate programme at the same time.
“Failure to disclose such prior admission is an offence which will be sanctioned,” he said.
On age eligibility, Oloyede stated that candidates must be at least 16 years old by September 30, 2026, to be considered for admission. He added that underage candidates would only be considered after a rigorous assessment process.
“Underage candidates who will be less than 16 years old by 30th September, 2026, will undergo an intensive evaluation to determine their eligibility for a waiver, and such candidates must have scored not less than 80 per cent in each of UTME/A’LEVEL, PUTME, SSCE and in the exceptional candidate assessment.”
He also disclosed that, unlike last year, the UTME results of underage candidates will only be released after the full evaluation process has been completed for transparency and fairness nationwide exercise overall.
