The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the commencement of the accreditation of Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Board said a total of 848 CBT centres are scheduled to be assessed nationwide in the exercise, which began on Monday, December 15, 2025.
According to JAMB’s Weekly Bulletin obtained on Monday in Abuja, the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, recently held a virtual meeting with Chief External Examiners (CEES), Chief Technical Advisors (CTAS), Zonal Directors, State Coordinators, as well as representatives of the Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria (CPAN), ZITOs, SITOs, PITOs and other key stakeholders involved in the process.
Addressing participants, Prof. Oloyede expressed appreciation for their prompt response to the Board’s call and urged members of the accreditation team to carry out their duties with focus, diligence and thoroughness, stressing that their decisions would have far-reaching implications.
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He described the assignment as a call to national service and cautioned the team against accrediting centres that do not meet JAMB’s required standards for its examinations.
The Registrar also advised officials to remain security conscious by avoiding unnecessary risks and limiting movement, assuring them that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to ensure a smooth and safe exercise.
JAMB’s IT Consultant, Mr Damilola Bamiro, explained that only centres that successfully conducted the mandatory automated system-readiness test were eligible for physical inspection, noting that the outcome of the test determined qualification for accreditation.
He outlined key areas of focus during the exercise, including CCTV coverage, which must be fully wired and use the HIKVision model with a minimum of 16 channels, as well as ensuring that all switches are connected to an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).
Other requirements, he said, include verifiable holding rooms or halls close to the examination hall, a minimum of 250 functional laptops for new centres, spacious registration areas with CCTV coverage, accessible network cables for biometric verification, and the use of star topology with all switches linked to a master switch to ease troubleshooting.
Also speaking, the Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), represented by Mr Auwal Ahmed Bello, guided participants through the operations of the Centre Management System (CMS) and other reporting procedures.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of CEES, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, and the CTAS Chairman, Prof. Bashir Galandanci, reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring a credible and successful accreditation process, emphasising the critical role of the exercise in the conduct of the 2026 UTME.
They pledged to deliver an accreditation exercise that would meet global best practices, while thanking JAMB for the opportunity to contribute to national development.
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