JAMB Summons 94 Candidates, 43 Schools Over Fraud
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has ordered 94 candidates and 43 tertiary institutions to appear before separate virtual investigative panels over alleged examination malpractices and the presentation of fraudulent academic credentials during the 2026 registration cycle.
The examination body announced on Tuesday through its official social media account that the affected candidates face accusations ranging from soliciting or paying for illicit assistance during the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination registration exercise to presenting fake certificates as part of 2025 Direct Entry applications that have been flagged by their institutions as fraudulent.
JAMB stated that the 94 candidates are required to appear before a virtual investigation panel scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 10 a.m., warning that failure to attend the session would be construed as an admission of guilt.
“The registration numbers of the 94 affected candidates are available on the JAMB website under Quick Links ‘Solicitations Candidates’,” the board said, adding that access passcodes for the virtual session had been sent to the affected candidates through their registered phone numbers.
“Failure to attend the session will be regarded as an admission of guilt,” the board stated.
In a separate announcement, JAMB said heads of institutions whose certificates were returned as fake, as well as those earlier invited, are to participate in a virtual meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 10 a.m. The board published the list of affected institutions on its website under Quick Links “Institutions with Outstanding Response.”
Verification by this publication on the JAMB website revealed that 43 institutions, comprising polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, with a total of 2,638 Direct Entry results with outstanding clearance requests, have been invited for the meeting.
The latest crackdown underscores JAMB’s intensified efforts to combat examination malpractice and credential fraud within Nigeria’s tertiary admission system, challenges that have plagued the country’s education sector for decades and undermined the credibility of academic qualifications.
Established in 1978 by the Federal Military Government through Decree No. 2 of 1978, JAMB was created to centralize and standardize admission processes into Nigeria’s universities after years of inconsistencies, multiple admissions, and administrative chaos that characterized the decentralized system where each institution conducted its own entrance examinations. The board’s mandate was expanded in 1989 through Decree No. 33 to include admissions into polytechnics and colleges of education, transforming JAMB into the country’s largest tertiary entrance examination body.
The board initially conducted the University Matriculation Examination but launched the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2010, harmonizing entrance requirements for all tertiary institutions. In 2015, JAMB introduced the Computer-Based Test system to replace paper-based examinations, a reform designed specifically to address examination malpractice and improve efficiency.
Despite these technological interventions, examination fraud has remained a persistent challenge. JAMB’s 2025 Infraction Report revealed that over 90 percent of candidates caught cheating were already students of universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education who attempted to manipulate the system for illegitimate gains, prompting the board to mandate that all candidates registering for the 2026 UTME must declare their current admission status.
During the 2025 UTME cycle, which saw over 2.03 million candidates register for the examination conducted between April 24 and May 5, 2025, JAMB disclosed that 97 candidates were confirmed to have engaged in examination malpractice, while 2,157 others remained under investigation for suspected infractions. The board also revealed that 3,656 candidates had extraneous fingerprints in their registration details, raising concerns about potential impersonation strategies.
The issue of fake certificates has proven particularly troubling within the Direct Entry admission pathway, which allows candidates with advanced qualifications such as National Diploma, National Certificate in Education, A-level certificates, or equivalent credentials to seek admission directly into 200 level of university programmes without writing the UTME.
At the 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, on July 8, 2025, Yahuza Bello, chairman of the Nigeria Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System and former vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, disclosed that the committee had uncovered 520 fake Advanced Level results used for Direct Entry admissions between 2019 and 2024.
“Going forward, NIPEDS would be further strengthened to fulfil its desire to consolidate on the establishment of a database of all recognised post-secondary education qualifications in Nigeria,” Bello stated, according to the JAMBulletin report. “The existing database has enabled JAMB to verify the qualifications presented by DE applicants, while the verification status of each applicant is being made available to the various institutions for their guidance.”
In 2023, JAMB Registrar Professor Is-haq Oloyede revealed that the board had identified 1,665 fake A-level results during Direct Entry registration, comprising 397 from Colleges of Education, 453 from university diploma holders, and the remainder from other A-level certificates.
The prevalence of fake credentials has prompted JAMB to establish a comprehensive verification framework, with all Direct Entry admissions now conducted through the Central Admissions Processing System platform to ensure transparency and accountability. Universities are now required to cross-check certificates before offering admission, and candidates found with fraudulent documents face disqualification and possible prosecution.
The broader challenge of examination malpractice extends beyond JAMB to other examination bodies. The National Examinations Council announced in February 2026 that it had recorded 9,016 malpractice cases during the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination External results, representing a 31.7 percent increase compared with the 6,160 cases recorded in the previous cycle. Five supervisors from the Federal Capital Territory, Kano, Adamawa, and Ondo States were recommended for blacklisting for aiding and abetting malpractice.
The Federal Government has reinforced its stance against examination fraud by approving a three-year ban for any student caught cheating in national external examinations, including JAMB, West African Examinations Council, National Examinations Council, and National Business and Technical Examinations Board. The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, explained that enforcement would be tied to candidates’ National Identification Numbers, preventing offenders from evading punishment.
For the 2026 registration cycle, JAMB has implemented additional safeguards. The sale of application documents for Direct Entry, which commenced on March 2, 2026, and is scheduled to end on April 25, 2026, is restricted exclusively to the board’s accredited state and zonal offices across the country. The board has also mandated that all credentials must be uploaded on JAMB’s portal before admission can be processed.
Professor Oloyede, who was appointed JAMB Registrar by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2016, has made the restoration of integrity to Nigeria’s examination system a cornerstone of his administration. Under his leadership, JAMB has introduced biometric verification, enhanced security protocols at Computer-Based Test centres, established the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group to ensure inclusive access for candidates with disabilities, and leveraged technology to improve transparency in the admissions process.
The board delisted and blacklisted four Computer-Based Test centres during the 2025 UTME cycle due to technical deficiencies and substandard performance, and six CBT centres were apprehended for involvement in malpractices including fingerprint manipulation, with confessions from suspects leading to the identification of their networks across the country.
As of March 2024, JAMB operated 793 Computer-Based Test centres across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The examination, which consists of 180 questions administered within a two-hour timeframe, has a score range of zero to 400 points. In 2024, JAMB reduced its cut-off mark to 140 for private and public universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education, though individual institutions maintain discretion to set higher benchmarks for competitive programmes.
Statistical analysis of the 2025 UTME results revealed that approximately 78 percent of the 1.96 million candidates who sat the examination scored below 200 points, with only 0.63 percent, or 12,421 candidates, scoring 300 points and above. The results, which sparked national debate about the quality of basic education in Nigeria, were attributed by the Minister of Education to the effectiveness of anti-malpractice measures, though education stakeholders including former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi argued that the poor performance reflected deeper systemic failures in Nigeria’s education system.
The ongoing investigations into the 94 candidates and 43 institutions represent the latest phase in JAMB’s sustained campaign to eliminate fraud from Nigeria’s tertiary admission process and restore public confidence in academic credentials issued by the country’s institutions.
JAMB has not issued further details about the specific nature of the alleged infractions or the identities of the affected institutions beyond the information published on its website. The outcomes of the virtual panels are expected to be made public following the conclusion of the investigations.