JAMB Issues New Warnings To Candidates

JAMB Issues New Warnings To Candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has issued a warning to candidates ahead of the start of registration for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, cautioning against misuse of National Identification Numbers.

The warning was given by JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, during a management meeting held to prepare for the sale of application forms and registration for the 2026 UTME and Direct Entry examinations. The advisory was later contained in a bulletin released by the Board.

He said candidates must not engage in double registration, use more than one NIN, or attempt impersonation or identity manipulation, noting that such actions would attract serious penalties.

He also raised concerns about practices such as group registration, fingerprint sharing, image manipulation, extortion, and other acts that weaken the credibility of the examination process.

According to him, candidates are expected to present themselves personally at CBT centres and ensure that only their own ten fingers are captured correctly during biometric registration. He warned that offering or accepting fingerprints from others would lead to strict consequences.

The Registrar restated JAMB’s resolve to maintain a cashless registration process to protect candidates from exploitation. He added that all fees collected by third parties would continue to be centrally managed and paid to beneficiaries weekly.

Financial institutions involved in selling e-PINs have also been directed to register their NINs with JAMB to improve accountability.

Oloyede announced that UTME registration would run from January 26 to February 28, 2026, while Direct Entry registration would begin on March 2 and end on April 25, 2026, and would only take place at JAMB offices.

He confirmed that UTME without mock costs ₦7,200, UTME with mock ₦8,700, and Direct Entry forms ₦5,700.