Relief has come for some UTME candidates across Nigeria as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially released 279 results that were previously withheld over suspected examination malpractice.
The announcement was made on Thursday through a statement shared by JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, on the board’s official X page.
According to JAMB, the affected results were reviewed as investigations into suspected exam malpractice continued nationwide.
The board explained that while some candidates had their results cleared and released after no strong evidence was found against them, others had their scores cancelled where malpractice was confirmed.
JAMB also revealed that some results are still being withheld, especially from examination centres where suspicious activities were detected during the exams or where negative reports were received.
The board warned that any candidate found guilty after investigations would have their results cancelled.
The 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) started on April 16 and ended on April 23, with more than two million candidates participating in the computer-based examination across Nigeria and other countries.
Candidates whose results are still unavailable have been advised to check their status by sending “UTMERESULT” to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number linked to their JAMB registration.
Meanwhile, JAMB also unveiled the list of top-performing candidates in the 2026 UTME, with a candidate seeking admission into the University of Lagos (UNILAG) emerging as the highest scorer.
The board further confirmed that the minimum cut-off mark for university admission for the 2026/2027 academic session remains 150, while polytechnics will accept candidates from 100 and above.
In another major development, JAMB announced that candidates applying for Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes in colleges of education will no longer need to write UTME.
Under the new guideline, students seeking NCE admission only need at least four O’level credits to qualify.
Source: Channels Television
