The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced registration timelines, stricter monitoring measures and age eligibility requirements ahead of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) exercises.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosures on Saturday in Lagos during a meeting with Commissioners for Education from across the country.
According to Oloyede, UTME registration will take place from January 26 to February 28 at all accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide. He noted that the sale of the UTME application document, known as the ePIN, would begin earlier, running from January 19 to February 26.
“The sale of UTME application document, which is the ePIN, will start earlier than the commencement of actual registration,” he said.
“Actual UTME registration period is between January 26 and February 28 at all approved CBT centres.”
The registrar added that the selection for the mock examination would close on February 16, while the sale of Direct Entry application documents and ePIN vending would commence on March 2 and end on April 25.
On monitoring, Oloyede announced tighter oversight of CBT centres, revealing that all registration activities would be monitored live from JAMB headquarters.
“Any centre whose registration activities cannot be viewed from the headquarters will not be paid, while such registration may be invalidated,” he warned.
He disclosed that 924 CBT centres have been screened and provisionally listed, adding that they would still undergo a final test before being fully accredited.
Addressing payment issues, the registrar stressed that candidates are not required to pay any service charges to CBT centres, noting that only fees approved by the board are payable.
Oloyede also assured candidates that they would not be posted to examination locations outside the towns selected during registration, explaining that each chosen group of towns allows posting to any location within that cluster.
He advised candidates to register early to avoid limited choices.
The registrar further warned candidates to fully disclose any previous registration or admission history, citing cases of malpractice in past examinations.
He said it is a criminal offence to run more than one undergraduate programme simultaneously.
“Failure to disclose such prior admission is an offence which will be sanctioned,” he said.
On age eligibility, Oloyede stated that candidates must be at least 16 years old by September 30, 2026, to qualify for admission.
He added that underage candidates would only be considered after undergoing a rigorous assessment process.
“Underage candidates who will be less than 16 years old by 30th September, 2026, will undergo an intensive evaluation to determine their eligibility for a waiver, and such candidates must have scored not less than 80 per cent in each of UTME, A’Level, PUTME, SSCE and in the exceptional candidate assessment,” he said.
Oloyede also disclosed that UTME results of underage candidates would only be released after the evaluation process had been completed, unlike in previous years, to ensure proper scrutiny of those seeking age waivers.
