iDeemlawfulThe Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has abolished special concessions and registration arrangements earlier extended to candidates with albinism for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, citing misuse of the privilege to facilitate examination malpractice.
The Board also cautioned faith-based tertiary institutions to openly declare their religious identity during admissions, warning that it is misleading to present as secular and later impose religious obligations on students.
According to Vanguard, the resolutions were reached on Saturday during a meeting between JAMB management, led by its Registrar, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, and Commissioners for Education from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
Oloyede said the meeting was convened to review and evaluate outcomes from previous admission exercises.
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He explained that despite safeguards put in place by the Board, some individuals continued to exploit loopholes in the system.
“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,” he said.
Reacting to complaints from candidates admitted into some private institutions over compulsory religious activities, Oloyede urged faith-based schools to be transparent about their status.
“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,” he said.
Speaking on last year’s UTME, where the highest scorer was later discovered to be a 300-level undergraduate, the JAMB registrar said investigations revealed that some students already in tertiary institutions sit for the examination to change courses or help others gain 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 was found to be a 300-level student in the university.
“Henceforth, any candidate found engaging in such an act, and who fails to disclose that he is already in school but wants to change course, will be disqualified and will also lose his current admission,” he said.
Explaining admission benchmarks, Oloyede said federal institutions allocate 45 per cent on merit, 20 per cent to catchment areas, 20 per cent to educationally disadvantaged states, with the remaining slots assigned to other considerations.
He added that while each institution or state can determine its criteria, states were encouraged to allocate at least 10 per cent strictly on merit to promote diversity and attract top-performing candidates.
“This is to diversify the student population and admit eggheads from different communities,” he said.
He criticised some states for establishing new universities despite failing to exhaust admission quotas in existing federal institutions.
On underage admissions, Oloyede reaffirmed that 16 years remains the minimum age, noting that an attestation process exists for exceptional cases.
“Last year, about 42,000 claimed to be underage. After evaluation, only 78 met the criteria and were admitted. We are not saying there are no talented candidates, but the figure looks outlandish,” he said.
The meeting also reviewed differing opinions on how to engage underage candidates during a gap year, with the majority agreeing that JAMB should retain its special assessment framework.
It further observed that parental pressure on children to complete education prematurely was a major factor driving the issue.
On measures against examination malpractice, Oloyede said JAMB had stopped the transfer of computers between Computer-Based Test centres.
“A computer registered in a particular centre will remain there and is not transferable to another centre. Some people borrow computers to get accredited and later move them around,” he said.
He dismissed claims that candidates were posted to towns they did not select, explaining that registration data were drawn directly from the National Identification Number provided by candidates.
Giving an update on the 2025 UTME, Oloyede disclosed that 974,855 candidates had been admitted out of about 1.95 million who sat for the examination.
He added that more than N2.4 billion had been paid to institutions that consistently complied with JAMB regulations over the past decade, noting that the meeting agreed schools producing top candidates should be rewarded.
On CBT centre accreditation, Oloyede said the process involved teams made up of university vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts across the states.