The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, commonly known as Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, has announced Saturday, June 13, 2026, as the official date for the mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for candidates affected during the main examination exercise.
The announcement was made on Monday through a statement issued by the Board’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin.
According to the examination body, the mop-up exercise is specifically for candidates who were successfully biometrically verified during the main UTME but could not complete the examination due to technical disruptions, biometric verification complications, or issues linked to withdrawn results arising from examination infractions.
JAMB explained that the mop-up examination represents the concluding phase of the 2026 UTME process and is intended to address all unresolved candidate cases from the nationwide exercise.
The Board noted that while the 2026 UTME was conducted between April 16 and April 29, several Computer-Based Test centres experienced technical failures that prevented some candidates from taking their examinations as scheduled.
It further disclosed that some candidates whose results were later withdrawn because of examination misconduct investigations, as well as candidates who encountered biometric verification problems, have also been included in the mop-up arrangement.
Affected candidates were advised to begin printing their Examination Notification Slips from Saturday, June 6, 2026, ahead of the rescheduled examination date.
JAMB also urged candidates to visit and familiarise themselves with their assigned examination centres before the examination day to avoid delays or confusion.
The Board stressed that the mop-up exercise would serve as the final opportunity for eligible candidates to participate in the 2026 UTME, adding that no additional examination would be conducted afterward.
The 2026 UTME exercise attracted more than 2.2 million candidates nationwide and was held across accredited Computer-Based Test centres.
Earlier in the examination cycle, JAMB released hundreds of thousands of results in batches following the conduct of the exams.
Some results, however, were withheld due to ongoing investigations into suspected malpractice cases before several were later released.
In addition to managing the 2026 admission process, JAMB recently confirmed that the existing minimum admission benchmarks for tertiary institutions remain unchanged.
Under the current policy, universities and Colleges of Nursing Sciences are expected to admit candidates with a minimum UTME score of 150, while polytechnics retain a minimum benchmark of 100.
The Board also reaffirmed that 16 years remains the minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions across the country.
Meanwhile, JAMB announced that beginning from the 2027 admission cycle, candidates applying to Colleges of Education for education-related courses and agriculture non-engineering programmes will no longer be required to sit for the UTME.
The policy, according to the Board, is aimed at increasing access to teacher education and agriculture-focused programmes nationwide.
