The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially scheduled Saturday, June 28, 2025, for the mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
A total of 96,838 candidates will take part in the exercise, which aims to accommodate various categories of eligible test-takers who were unable to sit for the exam during the main and rescheduled sessions.
In a statement issued on Sunday by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Public Communications Advisor, the Board urged all eligible candidates to print their examination notification slips starting from Monday, June 23, 2025.
Dr. Benjamin clarified that the mop-up is meant to give a fair opportunity to a number of candidates affected by technical or biometric verification issues.
“The examination will accommodate the 5,096 spill-over candidates and those who failed biometric verification during the main exercise,” he said.
Additionally, candidates who missed one or both of the earlier sittings due to exceptional circumstances are also being offered a second chance.
“Due to special dispensation granted to absentee candidates of the main and resit examinations, 91,742 candidates who were absent in both or either of the main and resit examinations would also be given this opportunity, which is only for 2025 UTME,” Benjamin added.
According to JAMB, the mop-up will be conducted in 183 centres across the country, with the first session starting promptly at 8:00 AM.
“Candidates for the 8:00am session are therefore advised in their own interest to arrive on or one and half hour before the actual commencement of the examination at 8:00am,” he advised.
JAMB emphasized that beyond accommodating affected candidates, the mop-up exam is also part of an ongoing crackdown on impersonation and examination fraud, including identifying undergraduate students who unlawfully sit for UTME on behalf of others.
“The scheduled mop up examination provides the opportunity to further apprehend more impersonators particularly current undergraduate students who impersonate UTME candidates.”
“Institutions of apprehended undergraduates are already being notified of the gross misconduct of their students in order to invoke the violation of the matriculation oath already taken by the students to flush them out of the various tertiary institutions,” he stated.
Dr. Benjamin further noted that offenders would be prosecuted under the Examination Malpractice Act, 1999, regardless of age.
“In addition to their prosecution under the examination malpractice Act, 1999, which makes provisions for imprisonment even of the under-aged and their indulgent parents, special squads of invigilators/security personnel are being deployed in the continuation of the current war already declared by the Hon. Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, CON on examination malpractices and their perpetrators both high and low,” he said.
He also revealed that the Board had taken disciplinary actions against erring Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres and compromised exam locations.
“In addition to centres being delisted for technical deficiencies during the mock, UTME and resit examinations, a large number of CBT centres implicated for sharp practices in the on-going security investigation are being suspended and those found culpable would be delisted and reported for prosecution,” he explained.
“Consequently, 113 CBT centres have been delisted or suspended from across the country. Some other implicated in multiple infractions in the main or resit examinations exercise.”
Due to these sanctions, some towns have been deemed unfit to host mop-up exams. Affected candidates will be reassigned.
“As a result of the investigation, a number of examination towns are no longer eligible to be used for the mop up examinations. Few candidates who fall into the deactivated examination towns would be assigned to examination towns closest to the delisted towns. We seek the understanding of such candidates,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, JAMB extended its appreciation to security operatives for their dedication in clamping down on examination malpractice networks.
“The Board appreciated the security agencies particularly the State Security Service (SSS), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for their ‘extra-ordinary’ devotion, passion and tenacity in the on-going nation-wide special investigation of identity theft and examination malpractices syndicates,” he noted, adding that arrests have included professional impersonators, tutorial centre operators, and even some JAMB officials.
