The report that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has barred candidates already in universities from registering for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) has drawn denial from the board.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB said the report was a distortion of its guidelines by self-styled education advocates seeking attention and traffic on social media platforms.
Benjamin said the 2026 UTME/DE advertisement clearly directed candidates to disclose their matriculation status during registration, in line with its mandate to prevent multiple admissions.
He explained that it was not an offence for a candidate already enrolled in an institution to register for the UTME or Direct Entry examinations.
JAMB’s spokesperson said that failure to disclose an existing matriculation status constituted an offence under the law governing admissions.
Benjamin added that disclosure meant that once a candidate secured a fresh admission, any previous admission automatically ceased to exist.
He said that no candidate was legally permitted to hold two admissions concurrently under Nigeria’s admission regulations. He said that mandatory disclosure had helped to curb the activities of matriculated students engaging in professional examination taking.
The spokesperson warned that candidates who failed to disclose prior to matriculation risk forfeiting both admissions if detected by its system.
Also, JAMB has revealed that many matriculated students are involved in examination malpractice as professional examination takers during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
It explained that requiring candidates to declare their matriculation status during registration for this year’s UTME would help speed up the process of taking necessary action whenever such individuals are caught.
“Recent findings indicate that many matriculated students are engaged as professional examination takers. Mandatory disclosure, therefore, expedites appropriate action whenever such candidates are apprehended,” Dr Benjamin said.
The statement cautioned candidates and the general public against what it described as deliberate misrepresentation of its directives for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry (UTME/DE) registration.
