UTME candidates can write exams outside states of registration—JAMB clarifies
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has denied the claims that UTME candidates are not allowed to take the main exam in a different state from where they registered, calling such reports misleading.
This clarification was given in a statement released by Fabian Benjamin, Ph.D., who serves as the Public Communication Advisor (PCA) for JAMB.
The clarification followed an earlier report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which had quoted Dr. Fabian Benjamin as saying that for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), “no one will be required to sit for the exam outside their state of registration.”
Dr. Benjamin made it clear that candidates are allowed to register from any part of the country and are also free to choose any town in Nigeria as their exam location.
“Candidates are not restricted to taking the examination within their state of registration. They have the flexibility to register anywhere in the country and select any town nationwide from any registration point,” he said.
He went on to clarify that the Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres are categorized by towns for convenience, not by states.
“For example, if a candidate selects Garki as their examination town, they must take the exam in a centre within the town and cannot be posted outside the town, as has been alleged at times.”
Dr. Benjamin stated that this clarification was necessary to counteract false information and to ease the concerns of candidates, particularly those who chose examination towns in states different from where they registered, ahead of the 2025 UTME scheduled to begin on April 25.
“It is crucial to rectify this misunderstanding to prevent confusion among candidates. Those who have registered for the UTME and selected examination towns outside their state of registration are indeed permitted to sit for the examination in their chosen towns.
“Candidates have the freedom to select their examination town from any location across the country, regardless of their state of registration. For instance, a candidate can register in Lagos and opt to take the examination in Sokoto or any other location,” he said.
JAMB also announced that it had released the results of 115,735 candidates who sat for the 2025 Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), while 10,446 results are still undergoing processing across the country.
The board stated that out of the 200,113 candidates who registered for the 2025 Mock UTME held on April 10, a total of 126,181 actually took part in the exam. Of those, 115,735 results have been made available, and 10,446 remain under processing.
JAMB recently introduced decoy websites that are meant to catch candidates attempting to cheat. These fake websites were created to look like fraudulent platforms used by scammers, and were part of a trap that led to the identification of at least 180 candidates who paid amounts starting from N30,000 in an effort to access leaked questions and get fake score upgrades.
