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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has commenced the accreditation of Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB disclosed that over 848 CBT centres had been slated to be covered in the accreditation exercise which began on Monday, December 15, throughout the country.
A statement from JAMB indicated that its Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, recently had a virtual meeting with Chief External Examiners (CEES), Chief Technical Advisors (CTAS), Zonal Directors, State Coordinators, Computer Professionals Association of Nigeria (CPAN), ZITOs, SITOs, PITOs and other critical stakeholders partaking in the exercise.
In his remarks, the JAMB Registrar thanked all the participants for heeding the Board’s call and enjoined the accreditation team to be focused, diligent and thorough in the task ahead. He also urged them to be conscious of the consequences of their decisions.
Prof. Oloyede urged members of the accreditation team to see their assignment as a call to national duty and implored them not to accredit centres that are not good for the Board’s examination.
He advised the participants to be security conscious, avoid unnecessary risks,
minimal movement and acts that could expose them to dangers, even as he assured that maximum security had been put in place for a hitch-free exercise.
The Board’s IT Consultant, Mr. Damilola Bamiro, pointed out that the accreditation exercise was for only centres that had successfully conducted the mandatory automated test deployed to check system readiness, with results determining eligibility for physical inspection.
He pointed out those areas that the team must focus attention on at each centre during the exercise to include the coverage areas of the CCTV system, which must be wired and must be HIKVision model with the recommended 16 channels, as well as having all the switches connected to the UPS.
Other accreditation requirements included details of verifiable holding rooms/halls and its proximity to the examination hall, identification of 250 functional laptops for new centres, spacious registration points with CCTV coverage, accessibility of network cables for biometric verification and the use of star topology with all switches connected to the master switch to make troubleshooting easier.
In her presentation, the Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), represented by Mr Auwal Ahmed Bello, took participants through the operations of the Centre Management System (CMS) and other reporting details.
Similarly, the Chairman, CEES, Prof. Vincent Tenebe and Prof. Bashir Galandanci, CTAS, restated their commitment to the success of the exercise, while underscoring the importance of accreditation in the 2026 UTME ecosystem.
The duo promised to deliver a credible accreditation exercise that would stand the test of time, while also thanking the Board for giving them the opportunity to contribute their quota to national development.
