The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has issued a stern warning to Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates, declaring that any admission not processed through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) and accompanied by an official JAMB admission letter is illegal. Candidates who accept such backdoor placements do so at their own risk and may never be recognized as legitimate students.
JAMB Registrar Clarifies Admission Rules
Speaking at the 2026 Annual Education Summit of the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, July 15, JAMB registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede, represented by the board's public communication adviser Fabian Benjamin, emphasized that printing the JAMB admission letter is the single most important step in confirming the validity of any university placement. Institutions that bypass this process are acting outside the law.
According to Blueprint Newspapers, Oloyede stated: "We have made it abundantly clear. For you to be regarded as duly admitted, you must print your JAMB admission letter. If an institution gives you admission through the back door without JAMB documentation, that is an illegal admission."
Over-Quota Admissions Not Recognized
The registrar was equally firm on carrying capacities, noting that no institution has the authority to exceed its approved student intake for any programme. He explained: "If a programme has approval to admit 50 students, it cannot admit 51. That extra candidate becomes an illegal admission because the name will not appear on the matriculation list."
Once a candidate completes admission through CAPS and prints the letter, their details are automatically transferred onto JAMB's matriculation list, the official record that determines who counts as a legally admitted student. Any candidate whose name does not appear on that list has no standing, regardless of what an institution may have told them.
Candidates Must Take Personal Responsibility
Oloyede stressed that candidates must take personal responsibility for confirming that their admissions have been correctly processed and should resist any institution attempting to draw them into an unauthorized arrangement. He warned: "Candidates must ensure their admissions are processed through CAPS. Otherwise, they stand the risk of being stranded."
He also noted that CAPS helps candidates make better choices by allowing them to assess their competitiveness, compare scores against others, and weigh options across institutions and courses before committing to a placement.
JAMB Raises Alarm Over SIM Card Misuse
In a separate caution, Prof. Oloyede flagged the growing risk of candidates mishandling their SIM cards, warning that these now function as unique identity markers within Nigeria's computer-based examination framework. He specifically advised against purchasing pre-registered SIM cards or consenting to SIM swaps, both of which could expose candidates to identity theft and examination fraud.
He said: "Your SIM card is your identity. Once you lose control of it, you may lose everything linked to your identity. Candidates must protect their SIM cards because they are now unique identifiers."
NUC to Intensify Monitoring
The National Universities Commission (NUC) also announced at the summit that it would intensify nationwide monitoring of universities to check illegal admissions and tighten regulations around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Nigerian higher education.
JAMB successfully conducted the 2026 UTME mop-up examination for candidates who faced challenges, with participants applauding the board's commitment to transparency and inclusiveness. The agency stated that positive feedback from candidates reinforces confidence in JAMB's integrity and examination credibility.
