Regulatory Update
Published: February 12, 2026
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By Emmanuel Iweh
JAMB Mandates Disclosure of Current Enrollment for 2026 UTME Candidates
"Students already enrolled in tertiary institutions must now declare their status when registering for the 2026 UTME or face automatic forfeiture of all admissions."
A new directive from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has sent ripples through the Nigerian student community as the February 28 registration deadline approaches. The board has introduced a mandatory 'Disclosure of Matriculation Status' column in the 2026 registration portal. This policy targets students who are currently enrolled in a university or polytechnic but are seeking to 'cross-carpet' to a different course or institution by retaking the UTME. Under the new rule, failure to disclose an existing admission at the point of registration is considered an act of academic fraud. If a student is found to have concealed their current status, JAMB will automatically invalidate both their new registration and their existing admission, effectively leaving the student with no placement. This move is part of a broader strategy to eliminate 'multiple matriculations' and the practice of 'seat-hoarding,' where students occupy a spot in one institution while testing the waters for another. From an investigative standpoint, this policy is expected to significantly impact admission chances for fresh secondary school leavers. By forcing existing students to choose between staying in their current program or resigning to pursue a new one, JAMB is effectively reducing the 'hidden' competition in the UTME pool. Historically, a substantial percentage of high-scoring candidates were already undergraduates looking for 'better' courses; by making the stakes higher for these candidates, the board is ensuring that the available seats in top-tier universities are more accessible to first-time applicants. However, students who genuinely need to change courses due to poor fit or institutional issues now face a risky 'all-or-nothing' scenario. They must now weigh the certainty of their current degree against the uncertainty of a fresh admission cycle. JAMB spokesperson Dr. Fabian Benjamin emphasized that the board’s Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) has been upgraded with AI to detect previous NIN-linked admissions, making concealment nearly impossible in the 2026 cycle.
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