The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that more than 1.5 million candidates have so far registered for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), as it reaffirmed that the registration exercise will officially close on February 26, 2026.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed that the sale of e-PINs for the 2026 UTME will end at midnight on Thursday, February 26, 2026. He explained that the e-PIN is required for candidates to proceed to accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres to complete their registration.
The Board clarified that although e-PIN sales will stop on February 26, candidates who have already purchased their e-PINs will still be allowed to finalize their registration at accredited centres until Saturday, February 28, 2026.
According to Benjamin, as of Tuesday, February 17, 2026, over 1.5 million candidates had successfully completed their registration. Despite having the capacity to process up to 100,000 candidates daily, JAMB revealed that registration centres nationwide are currently operating at less than 30 percent of their capacity. The Board expressed concern that many prospective candidates have yet to utilize the ongoing registration window.
JAMB emphasized that the registration deadline will not be extended, noting that it operates within a nationally coordinated examination calendar agreed upon by all examination bodies in Nigeria. The Board explained that its schedule is carefully structured to allow other examination agencies to conduct their respective assessments without disruption, leaving no room for an extension.
It therefore urged candidates to obtain their e-PINs before the vending deadline and promptly complete their registration at accredited centres. The Board cautioned that waiting until the final days could result in unnecessary difficulties and stressed that appeals for deadline extensions would not be entertained.
JAMB reiterated that the strict timeline is intended to ensure that all genuinely interested candidates have adequate opportunity to register for the 2026 UTME, encouraging prospective applicants to act without delay.
