The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has clarified that students currently enrolled in tertiary institutions are not barred from registering for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) or Direct Entry (DE), contrary to widespread claims circulating on social media.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, JAMB described reports suggesting that students cannot write UTME while in university as misleading and a deliberate distortion of its official guidelines.
The Board said the misinformation was being spread by “self-styled education advocates” who failed to properly read and understand the 2026 UTME/DE registration directives.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is not an offence for a candidate to register for UTME/DE while still enrolled in an institution,” JAMB stated.
However, the examination body stressed that candidates must mandatorily disclose their matriculation status during registration.
“Failure to disclose such status constitutes an offence. Disclosure simply means that once a candidate secures admission through the latest registration, the former admission automatically ceases to subsist,” the Board explained.
JAMB noted that the directive aligns with its statutory responsibility to prevent multiple admissions, adding that Nigerian law does not permit any candidate to hold two admissions simultaneously.
The Board also revealed that recent investigations showed that some already-matriculated students engage in examination malpractice as professional exam writers, making disclosure critical for effective monitoring.
“Although the Board’s system can detect prior matriculation, any candidate found to have failed to disclose such status risks forfeiting both opportunities,” the statement warned.
Read Official Statement Below:
JAMB urged parents and candidates to disregard false narratives being circulated for social media traffic and instead rely solely on official communications and guidelines.
The statement was signed by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JP, Public Communication Adviser, JAMB Headquarters.
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝘀 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽!
