The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has scrapped special concessions and registration procedures previously granted to candidates with albinism for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, citing abuse of the privilege to perpetrate examination malpractice.

The Board also warned faith-based tertiary institutions to clearly declare their religious status at the point of admission, saying it is deceptive to present as secular and later impose religious rules on students.

As reported by Vanguard, these decisions were taken on Saturday at a meeting between JAMB management, led by its Registrar, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, and Commissioners for Education from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Oloyede said the meeting was convened to review and assess previous admission exercises.

He noted that despite safeguards introduced by the Board, some individuals remained determined to circumvent the system.

“We have stopped some concessions we gave albino candidates. This is because some are using artificial intelligence to manipulate the registration process to look like they are albinos because of the consideration we gave them.

“Last year alone, over 7,000 claimed to be albinos. We have stopped special registration procedures for albinos,” he said.

Addressing complaints from candidates admitted into some private institutions over compulsory religious instruction, Oloyede urged faith-based schools to be transparent.

“Faith-based institutions should declare from the onset what they are, so that whoever applies there will know what he is going to meet there. But some don’t do that. They will pretend to be secular, but once students are admitted, trouble will begin over religious instruction and injunctions.

“If you are a faith-based institution, say so. The law allows you to set up faith-based schools,” he said.

On last year’s UTME, where the highest-scoring candidate was later found to be a 300-level university student, the JAMB registrar said investigations showed that some undergraduates sit for the examination to change courses or assist others to secure admission.

“Students who are already in school but want to change courses and are applying again must declare and disclose their status.

“We have found that some candidates already in school are writing the examination for other candidates. Last year, the candidate who scored the highest was found to be a 300-level student in the university.

“Henceforth, any candidate found engaging in such an act, and who fails to disclose that he is already in school but wants to change course, will be disqualified and will also lose his current admission,” he said.

On admission criteria, Oloyede explained that federal government-owned institutions allocate 45 per cent on merit, 20 per cent on catchment area, 20 per cent to educationally disadvantaged states, while the remaining slots are allocated to other considerations.

“Each owner or state has the right to decide what its admission criteria will be. But for states, we encourage them to allocate at least 10 per cent to merit, regardless of where the candidates come from.

“This is to diversify the student population and admit eggheads from different communities,” he said.

He criticised some states for establishing new universities despite not fully utilising their admission quotas in existing federal institutions.

On underage candidates, Oloyede said 16 years remained the minimum admission age, noting that an attestation process was in place for exceptional cases.

“Last year, about 42,000 claimed to be underage. After evaluation, only 78 met the criteria and were admitted. We are not saying there are no talented candidates, but the figure looks outlandish,” he said.

The issue of how to engage underage candidates during a gap year divided opinions at the meeting, but a majority voted for JAMB to continue its special assessment process.

The meeting also observed that parental pressure on children to complete their education too quickly was a major contributor to the problem.

On efforts to curb examination malpractice, Oloyede said JAMB had stopped the movement of computers between Computer-Based Test centres.

“A computer registered in a particular centre will remain there and is not transferable to another centre. Some people borrow computers to get accredited and later move them around,” he said.

He dismissed claims that candidates were posted to towns they did not choose, saying personal data used for registration were drawn directly from the National Identification Number submitted by candidates.

Providing an update on the 2025 UTME, Oloyede said 974,855 candidates had so far been admitted out of about 1.95 million who sat for the examination.

He added that over N2.4 billion had been disbursed to institutions that consistently complied with JAMB’s rules over the past 10 years, and that the meeting agreed that schools producing the best candidates should be compensated.

On accreditation of CBT centres, Oloyede said the process involved teams comprising university vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts in each state.

He warned state governments against agreements with private promoters who might use centres to facilitate malpractice.