The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of its recent mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), while also providing significant updates on its ongoing investigation into a criminal network involved in the production of fake admission letters.
In a statement issued on Monday, JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, disclosed that out of 96,838 candidates scheduled to take the mop-up exam, only 11,161 were confirmed to have sat for the test and had their results released.
He noted that some candidates have been unable to access their results due to failure to follow instructions. “Candidates who are not able to access their result have been found not to have fully complied with the instruction to send ‘UTMERESULT’ (as a single word) to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number they used during UTME registration,” he explained.
Crackdown on Fake Admission Letters
JAMB also gave a detailed update on its clampdown on a syndicate involved in forging and selling fake admission letters to unsuspecting candidates. The operation was first exposed in April 2024 during a joint press briefing with the Nigeria Police Force.
Working with the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), authorities arrested five key suspects who confessed to creating and distributing fraudulent admission letters. The case—Inspector General of Police vs Effa Leonard & 4 others—is currently ongoing at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
As part of its investigation, JAMB flagged a total of 17,417 candidates believed to have benefitted from the forged documents. Between 2024 and May 2025, 6,903 candidates were cleared after being found to have minor admission discrepancies and following the proper procedures.
However, 10,514 others were referred to police investigation offices for further scrutiny. Of this number:
- 5,669 candidates were confirmed to have used forged admission letters.
- 4,832 tried to bypass the required ministerial waiver process by working with the illegal syndicate.
Most of these cases involve candidates whose admissions, granted between 2017 and 2020, were not properly disclosed to JAMB but were in the process of being regularized by their institutions.
Additionally, JAMB announced that 1,532 candidates whose institutions have now processed their previously undisclosed admissions have been officially condoned. While these candidates were initially involved in the fraudulent scheme, their cases have been regularized after strict warnings were issued.
JAMB emphasized its commitment to maintaining the integrity of Nigeria’s tertiary admission process, warning that it would continue to expose and prosecute those involved in compromising the system.
