Tag: UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has “suspected” foul play in the results of Chinedu Okeke, the best candidate in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, at the 2025 policy meeting of the board on Tuesday in Abuja, announced that Okeke, an indigene of Anambra, emerged the best candidate with 375 score, in the examinations.

Oloyede, however, said that the board made some discoveries regarding Okeke, who applied for Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos.

Oloyede explained that data from JAMB revealed that Okeke was admitted a year ago, in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in the School of Medicine.

He said that JAMB wrote UNN for clarification about the candidate, and the school revealed that Okeke is a student of the institution, and he is doing fine.

Speaking with NAN on the development, JAMB Public Communications Advisor,  Dr Fabian Benjamin said the board suspected foul play.

“The law does not allow a student to matriculate twice, and as an undergraduate, he has an advantage over other candidates in the examinations.

“In his records, he claimed he is from the South-East, while the other record is reading that he is from Lagos State.

“We are suspecting that he is a mercenary in the examination,”  Benjamin told NAN in a telephone interview.

The board also announced that John Ayuba from Gombe state came second in the examinations scoring 374, while Olayinka Jimoh from Kwara state scored 373.

Other top scorers are Ayibo Roberts from Rivers, Chibueze Omonugbo from Enugu state Tunmise Olawepo from Kwara and Leslie Afinotan, from Delta, all scoring 373.

Also in the list of top scorers are Chukwuemeka Azoyenime from Delta, Emmanuel Oyebode from Ogun  and Cecil Omigie from Edo, all scoring 372 in the examinations.

Stakeholders at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) policy meeting have set 2025 admission cut-off mark into universities at 150, polytechnics at 100, and School of Nursing at 140.

Similarly, the admissions cut-off for Colleges of Agriculture and Education was set at 100.

The resolution was made at the 2025 policy meeting on admissions into tertiary institutions and 5th edition (2023 and 2024) of the National Tertiary Admissions Performance-Merit Award (NATAP-M).

The participatory policy meeting presided over by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, had Vice Chancellors of Universities, Rectors of Polytechnics, Provosts of Colleges of Education and other heads of institutions in attendance.

The policy meeting approved 150 as the minimum UTME score for admission into universities for the 2025 academic year after deliberations and proposals from various vice-chancellors and heads of institutions.

The decision followed proposals ranging from 130 to 160 by stakeholders.

Meanwhile, the Registrar, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, warned that any institution that failed to upload its updated admission rules would be sanctioned.

Oloyede also said that failure of institutions to upload senate-approved brochures to JAMB’s Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) portal by the end of October would amount to forfeiting the right to use any altered admission criteria for the 2026 session.

He advised that the uploaded information must be available before the official brochure for 2026 is published.

Speaking on the timeline for the conclusion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise, he said that public universities must end their admission processes by the end of October 2025, while private universities by end of November.

He also said that Polytechnics and Colleges of education must conclude their admissions processes by the end of December 2025.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa has advised stakeholders on the need for transparency, regulatory compliance, and timely processes to ensure a smooth admission season and uphold the integrity of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Alausa also stressed the need to fully comply with the agreed cut-off point approved at the policy meeting.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the release of results from its mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted on June 28.

In a statement signed by JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in Abuja on Sunday, the board also provided an update on its ongoing crackdown on a widespread fake admission letter syndicate.

Benjamin said, of the 96,838 candidates slated for the mop-up examination, results had been released for 11,161 candidates who sat for the test.

He urged candidates who were unable to access their results to ensure they follow the prescribed procedure.

The procedure, according to him is by sending the text, “UTMERESULT” (as one word) to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number they registered with, for the UTME.

He added that non-compliance with this requirement has been identified as the main reason some candidates cannot access their scores.

Meanwhile, JAMB has also offered a detailed update on efforts to dismantle a syndicate engaged in the production of fake JAMB admission letters for a fee.

Benjamin disclosed that an investigation, carried out with the support of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), led to the arrest of five ring-leaders who had confessed to producing and distributing forged admission letters.

The suspects, he said, are currently being prosecuted at the Federal High Court in Abuja in the case titled, Inspector General of Police vs Effa Leonard and Four Others.

He revealed that the syndicate’s activities implicated a total of 17,417 candidates flagged as beneficiaries.

“Between 2024 and May 2025, JAMB cleared 6,903 of these candidates after they rectified minor discrepancies.

“However, 10,514 candidates were referred to designated police investigation offices.

“Of these, 5,669 were confirmed to have procured forged admission letters outrightly.

“Another 4,832 were found to have tried to bypass the Board’s formal process for undisclosed admissions (typically covered by a 2017–2020 ministerial waiver) by resorting to the syndicate,” he said

Additionally, he said 13 other candidates were flagged due to individual acts of omission or commission.

“Twelve of these cases date back to 2017 when the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) was introduced.

” The flagged candidates are spread across institutions including Bayero University Kano (2), Enugu State University of Science and Technology (2).

“Others are,  one each from Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ekiti State University, Yaba College of Technology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Osun State Polytechnic Ire, Ben Idahosa University, Obong University, and the University of Ilorin,” he added.

He, however, said that following its management meeting on July 5, 2025, JAMB resolved to give the 13 candidates an opportunity to rectify the specific anomalies in their records and print new admission letters.

According to him, they will be added to the batch of 6,903 whose cases were previously condoned.

“Furthermore, the Board announced that 1,532 candidates, who claimed they were unaware of the syndicate’s role in facilitating their admission letters and whose institutions eventually processed their condonement properly, would be formally warned but ultimately condoned.

“However, 3,300 candidates remain under investigation for allegedly securing admissions that were neither legitimate nor properly processed by their claimed institutions,” he explained .

Benjamin warned that the Board’s screening processes would continue rigorously.

He said that any candidate found to have engaged in or solicited help from examination or certificate fraudsters would face consequences under the Examination Malpractices Act.

This, he said, would include possible prosecution, with penalties applicable even to minors and their culpable guardians or parents.

“The Board remains committed to upholding the integrity of the admission process and ensuring that only duly qualified candidates gain access to tertiary education in Nigeria,” he said.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approved June 28 for the conduct of the 2025 UTME mop-up examination.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday by the board’s Public Communications Advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin.

Benjamin said the examination would accommodate the 5,096 spill-over candidates and those who failed biometric verification during the main exercise.

He added that the new date was due to the special dispensation granted to absentee candidates of the main and resit examinations.

The first session for the examination day, he said, would start at 8:00 a.m.

He urged candidates for the 8:00a.m. session to arrive one or one and half hours before the actual commencement of the examination.

Benjamin also advised eligible candidates to print their examination notification slips from Monday in preparation for the mop-up examination.

According to him, 91,742 candidates who were absent in both or either of the main and resit examinations will also be given this opportunity which is only for 2025 UTME.

He said 96,838 candidates were being rescheduled for the 2025 mop up exercise in 183 centres across the nation while others would be kept on standby.

Benjamin also said that a large number of CBT centres implicated for sharp practices in the on-going security investigation were being suspended and those found culpable would be delisted and reported for prosecution.

He said 113 CBT centres had been delisted or suspended across the country and some others implicated in multiple infractions in the main or resit examinations exercise.

The board, he said, commended the security agencies, particularly the DSS, police and NSCDC for their tenacity in the on-going investigation of identity theft and examination malpractices syndicates

He said this investigations had led to the arrest and prosecution of tens of culprits, including few JAMB officials, professional examination takers and syndicates of some school proprietors and tutorial centres.

Benjamin said as a result of the investigation, a number of examination towns were no longer eligible to be used for the mop up examinations.

“Few candidates who fall into the deactivated examination towns would be assigned to examination towns closest to the delisted towns. We seek the understanding of such candidates,” he said.

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it will conduct additional mop-up examinations for candidates who missed the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at a meeting with key stakeholders to address the challenges encountered during the 2025 UTME.

Oloyede said that the board would accommodate the estimated 5.6 per cent of candidates who missed the examination by organising a special mop-up exercise.

He said that the board had extended the opportunity to all the affected candidates, regardless of the reasons for their absence.

“Normally, we hold one mop-up nationwide for those with one issue or the other.

“But this time, we are creating a new mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier examination due to absence, we will extend this opportunity to them.

“It is not that we are doing something extraordinary; in class, you make up an examination when students miss it for one reason or the other; we just don’t allow abuse of that.

“So we will allow all the candidates who missed the main examination for any reason to take part in this mop-up,” he said.

Oloyede criticised some public commentators who misunderstood and misrepresented the role of UTME, while clarifying that UTME was a placement test and not an achievement test.

According to him, the purpose of the examination is to rank candidates for available spaces in institutions and not to measure intelligence or overall academic potential.

The registrar further stated that high UTME score was not the sole determinant of admission, adding that combined performance, including post-UTME scores and school assessments, could significantly affect a candidate’s ranking.

While acknowledging the emotional strain experienced while announcing the UTME results, he noted that this was not indicative of an institutional weakness.

He expressed JAMB’s commitment to resolving issues affecting the examination process, even as he rejected comments suggesting that the administrative failure was due to incompetence or ethnic bias.

“I want to say this clearly, particularly because I accepted responsibility, not because I do not know how to do the work. I say it for the fourth time that no conspiracy theory is relevant to this case.

“Something happened; like people who have been doing something well for years and something just went wrong. That I should now throw them under the bus? No,” he said.

Oloyede, who frowned at those exploiting difficulties to promote ethnic or conspiracy-driven narratives, urged stakeholders to stop ethnic profiling in the education sector.

According to him, many of the criticisms of JAMB’s operations are rooted in ignorance.

The registrar, however, commended his team’s efforts, while also appreciating the resilience shown by candidates, many of whom, he said, had continued their exams, notwithstanding the various challenges.