Prosper Okoye
Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that students currently enrolled in universities are allowed to sit its entrance examination, but must declare their existing admission during registration.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the exams body said some social media posts had wrongly suggested that candidates already in higher institutions were barred from writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB said its directive for the 2026 UTME and Direct Entry registration requires candidates to disclose their matriculation status, where applicable, in line with the law prohibiting multiple admissions.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“It is not an offence for a candidate to register for UTME or Direct Entry while still enrolled in an institution,” the board said. “However, failure to disclose such status constitutes an offence.”
The board explained that once a candidate secures a new admission through the UTME or Direct Entry process, any previous admission automatically lapses, as no candidate is permitted to hold two admissions at the same time.
JAMB added that the disclosure requirement also helps to identify cases where matriculated students act as paid examination writers for others.
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Although the board said its systems can detect prior admissions, it warned that candidates who fail to disclose their status risk losing both their existing admission and any new one secured.
The exams body urged candidates and parents to rely on official guidelines and avoid what it described as misleading interpretations circulating online.
Prosper Okoye is a Correspondent and Research Writer at Prime Business Africa, a Nigerian journalist with experience in development reporting, public affairs, and policy-focused storytelling across Africa
