By Adesina Wahab
As admission seekers begin registration for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has cancelled special concessions and registration hitherto allowed for people with albinism because some are using them to perpetrate malpractice.
Also, the Board has urged faith-based institutions to disclose their status from the outset, saying pretending to be secular to attract applicants and later imposing religious rules is a form of deception.
These were parts of the decisions arrived at on Saturday when the management of the Board, led by the Registrar, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, met with the Commissioners for Education in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in Ikeja, Lagos.
Oloyede, who said the meeting was to review and assess the previous exercise, said despite the numerous steps taken by the examination body, some unscrupulous persons were bent on circumventing the process.
“We have stopped some concessions we gave albino candidates. This is because some are using Artificial Intelligence 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.”
On complaints from admitted candidates in some private institutions regarding religious instruction and rules, Oloyede urged the schools to declare their status.
His word: “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, but once students are admitted, trouble will begin over religious instruction and injunctions. If you are a faith-based institution, say so. The law allows you to set up faith-based schools.”
Following last year’s revelation that the candidate with the highest score was already a 300-level student at a university, the JAMB boss noted that the investigation showed that some undergraduates write the exam to eventually start another course, while others do so to help others secure 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 that some candidates already in school are writing 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.
Regarding admission criteria, he explained that for federal government-owned institutions, it is 45 per cent merit, 20 per cent catchment area, 20 per cent educationally disadvantaged states and the rest for others.
“Each owner or state has the right to decide what its admission criteria will be. But for states, we encourage them to allocate at least 10 per cent to merit, regardless of where the candidates come from. This is to diversify the student population and to admit egg heads from different communities.”
Oloyede took a swipe at some states setting up new universities when they have not filled their quotas in federal institutions.
On the issue of underage candidates, he explained, “There is attestation to be signed for underage candidates. Last year, we had about 42,000 claiming to be underage. After evaluation and assessment of their claims, only 78 met the criteria and were 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 the admission year.”
How to handle the issue of underage candidates divided the meeting, as some said the Board should create something for such candidates to get busy with during the gap year.
However, Oloyede put the matter to a vote, and the majority gave the Board the go-ahead to continue the special assessment process for such candidates.
The meeting noted that parents putting pressure on their children to quickly finish their education are the ones causing the trouble.
On some of the new steps taken to check exam malpractice, Oloyede said one of the steps is to stop the movement of computers from one centre to another.
“A computer that is registered in a particular centre will remain there and is 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 accredited them, then they will be moving the computers from one place to the other,” he said.
He stated that JAMB would never post candidates to towns they did not choose.
“We don’t post candidates to towns they did not choose. Name, state and other vital information of a candidate are obtained from the NIN they submit for registration. We don’t misspell names because we don’t tamper with that.”
Giving an update on last year’s UTME, Oloyede said 974,855 candidates have so far been admitted out of the about 1.95 million that wrote the examination.
Oloyede said over N2.4 billion had been given by the Board to institutions that adhered well to its rules over the last 10 years.
The meeting also voted that the school where the best candidates emerge should be compensated.
On accreditation of CBT centres,Oloyede said it is done by a team comprising a university vice Chancellor, rector and provost, among others, in each state of the federation.
He warned state governments against signing agreements with private promoters of CBT centres who would want to use the centres to perpetrate exam malpractice.
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