c, registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has called for support from all the commissioners of education across the country to strengthen the integrity and efficiency of public examination and curb the menace of malpractices.
Oloyede said the essence of the advocacy was to seek shared ownership, consensus, and coordinated action between JAMB and state governments to deliver a credible and successful 2026 UTME/DE exercise.
Speaking in Lagos at a meeting with Commissioners for Education in preparation for the 2025 UTME & Direct Entry Exercises, Oloyede said it was important to leverage state platforms and networks to support effective public sensitisation and information dissemination to candidates and stakeholders.
He said it was critical to obtain constructive inputs from Commissioners to refine plans and improve operational outcomes, recognising their critical role in grassroots engagement, adding that this will further strengthen joint efforts to curb examination malpractice and other unwholesome practices.
The Jamb registrar said that ahead of the 2026 examination, candidates must declare their previous registration and admission history with the board, noting that this is a new measure adopted to forestall any form of examination malpractice in the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
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He also said that it was a crime by law to run more than one undergraduate programme concurrently, thus, failure to disclose such prior admission is an offence which will be sanctioned.
Oloyede said only candidates who will not be less than 16 years old by September 30, 2026, are generally eligible to apply for the UTME and be considered for admission.
The registrar said that underage candidates who will be less than 16 years old by September 30, 2026, will undergo an intensive evaluation to determine their eligibility for a waiver, adding that such candidates must have scored not less than 80 percent in each of UTME/A’LEVEL, PUTME, SSCE and in the exceptional candidate assessment.
“The sale of UTME application documents, which is the ePIN, will start earlier than the commencement of actual registration, which is January 19 to February 26. Actual UTME registration period is between January 26th to Februaru 28th at all approved CBT Centres.
“The close of mock selection is Feb. 16, while the sale of DE application documents and E-PIN vending will commence on March 2, and close by April 25,” he said.
He further said that unlike in 2025, the UTME results of the underage candidates would be released only at the conclusion of the complete evaluation process.
He assured that all CBT centres participating in the UTME registration exercise would be monitored live from JAMB Headquarters, adding that any centre the registration activities of which cannot be viewed from its headquarters would not be paid, while such registration may be invalidated.
Oloyede revealed that 924 centres had been screened and provisionally listed, adding that they would go through the final test before final accreditation to participate in the UTME registration and examination.
The JAMB Registrar stated that candidates were not required to pay any money as a service charge to any CBT centre.
He urged candidates to register early since their preferred town may no longer have space for them at a late period, adding that the choice of a group of towns implies that candidates can be posted to any of the towns in the chosen group.
