JAMB Withholds Payment From 150 CBT Centres

…..Warns Candidates Against Malpractice

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has warned centres to ensure that their surveillance cameras are accessible and viewable during registration and examination exercises or risk sanctions, including non-payment and delisting.

The Board disclosed this in a weekly bulletin, stressing that any of the 989 accredited centres where activities cannot be monitored in real time may have such exercises declared invalid.

“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has reiterated that all centres participating in its processes, particularly registration and examination must ensure that their surveillance cameras are accessible and viewable from the Board’s control room at its headquarters.

“This policy is aimed at ensuring full transparency, allowing the Board to observe all activities during registration and examinations across centres,” the Board said in the bulletin.

According to the Board, during the recent registration exercise, over 150 centres were not visible from the control room, and consequently, these centres were not paid.

“Although the Board initially considered cancelling all registrations conducted during the affected periods, it instead carried out further scrutiny using an additional layer of remote monitoring,” the bulletin said.

The Board added that affected centres have been given an ultimatum to correct their technical configurations, noting that payment would only be made after compliance is confirmed. It also warned that any centre that becomes unviewable during examinations would be immediately delisted.

JAMB also cautioned candidates against engaging in examination malpractice ahead of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Board said candidates must work diligently and avoid offences such as impersonation and result falsification, which could lead to prosecution, reviewing cases of candidates currently facing legal consequences for such offences. It also disclosed that more than five candidates from the 2025 UTME exercise have already been convicted for various examination infractions.

“There is no shortcut to success; the only path is through hard work. More than five candidates from the 2025 exercise have already been convicted for various examination infractions.

“It is now even riskier to attempt malpractice, as the Board has deployed advanced technology capable of detecting and apprehending offenders instantly,” it said.

The Board further reiterated that it would not entertain pleas for leniency and urged candidates to prepare adequately for the examination. It also assured that robust measures have been put in place to identify and prosecute offenders in the 2026 UTME.