2026 UTME Mop-Up Results Out, Admission Process Begins
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has released the results of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination mop-up exercise, clearing the way for the ranking of candidates and the start of the admission cycle for tertiary institutions nationwide.
The Board’s Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed in a statement on Tuesday that candidates who participated in the examination could check their results through JAMB’s established result-checking channels. He said the Board would commence the ranking of candidates following the successful conclusion of the exercise, with the printing of results for admission purposes expected to begin before the weekend.
Benjamin expressed appreciation for the patience and cooperation of candidates and stakeholders throughout the process.
The mop-up examination was held on Saturday, June 13, 2026, as a final opportunity for candidates who were biometrically verified for the main UTME but could not sit the exam due to technical glitches, biometric issues, or other disruptions at examination centres. The main 2026 UTME held between April 16 and April 25, 2026, but some centres experienced technical problems that prevented several candidates from taking the examination, while others had results withdrawn over alleged infractions or could not be verified biometrically.
The exercise comes against the backdrop of a record turnout. JAMB released 1,897,692 results out of the 2,243,761 candidates who registered for the 2026 UTME. Lagos State recorded the highest number of registrations at 321,814, followed by Kaduna with 303,498. At its May 11 policy meeting in Abuja, the Board, on the vote of vice-chancellors and other stakeholders, retained 150 as the minimum admissible score for universities and Colleges of Nursing Sciences, and 100 for polytechnics, while keeping the minimum admission age at 16.
For many candidates, this year’s smoother conclusion carries added weight given the turbulence of the previous cycle. In May 2025, JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede publicly admitted to a technical error and announced a retake for 379,997 candidates. Oloyede told a press conference that the glitch was traced to a failure in the deployment of updated grading software by one of its service providers, affecting 65 centres in the Lagos zone and 92 centres in the Owerri zone. The fault distorted results from 157 Computer-Based Test centres and pushed most of the 1.95 million candidates below the 200-point mark. The episode triggered a House of Representatives investigation and calls for the Registrar’s resignation.
The 2026 mop-up therefore reflects JAMB’s stated commitment to corrective measures after that controversy. The Board has framed the exercise as the final phase of the annual UTME cycle, designed to resolve all outstanding cases rather than disadvantage candidates who duly presented themselves.
With ranking now under way and result printing imminent, attention will shift to institutional screening and Post-UTME exercises across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. JAMB has cautioned that its screening continues, warning that any candidate found to have engaged in examination or admission fraud will face prosecution.