By Felix Khanoba
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is set to introduce a pre-registration mobile application and enhanced biometric verification ahead of the 2027 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as part of measures to simplify registration and strengthen examination integrity.
The board’s Registrar, Prof. Segun Aina, disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja after a five-kilometre walk organised for staff members as part of activities marking preparations for the 2027 UTME.
Aina explained that the proposed mobile application would enable prospective candidates to complete preliminary registration activities from their homes before visiting designated centres for the actual registration.
According to him, the application will allow candidates to retrieve their personal information from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), enter their biodata, select preferred subjects, courses and institutions, and receive academic guidance before completing registration.
“There are a lot of innovations that are coming up. Now we are rolling out what we are calling a pre-registration application,” he said.
“It’s a mobile application that allows you from the comfort of your own home to get your details from NIMC, register with your bio data, select your subjects, your courses, your institution.
“During that process, we will be giving some advanced advisory that we didn’t use to give before.
“Like now when you are trying to select a course you will see an idea of what the entry marks for that course was in the previous year.
“That will guide you. Each of us know our academic abilities. So, having information like that will guide us on course selection, institution selection and the likes.”
The JAMB registrar said the initiative would significantly reduce the time candidates spend at registration centres, particularly during the collection of biometric information.
He also disclosed plans to introduce a technical safeguard that would prevent candidates from submitting applications with incorrect subject combinations for their preferred courses.
The measure, he said, would eliminate a recurring registration challenge by ensuring that candidates meet the required subject combinations before proceeding with their applications.
“There are a lot of innovations. Before now you could potentially make wrong subject choices for the course you intend to do,” Aina said.
“We are going to make that technically impossible which means you cannot progress with your application if the subject combination is wrong. And a lot of other innovations that are coming.”
On examination security, Aina said the board would strengthen biometric verification during the actual UTME to prevent impersonation, examination malpractice and other irregularities.
He explained that while JAMB had introduced certain concessions to make the registration process less stressful, it would compensate for the flexibility by tightening identity verification at examination centres.
“We have given up some ground and made some concessions to reduce trauma for the candidates in terms of being able to change their bio data and things like that,” he said.
“And in exchange for that we will be applying enhanced checks at the point of the examination to make sure that we protect the integrity of the system. Other little small innovations for convenience.
The registrar further revealed that candidates would have the opportunity to report questions they consider faulty through a dedicated feature to be introduced into the computer-based test (CBT) platform.
He said the feedback mechanism would enable the board to examine reported questions and determine whether they contain errors or require further review, thereby improving the quality and fairness of the examination.
He, however, cautioned that candidates sometimes mistake difficult questions for faulty ones, stressing the importance of having a formal channel for reporting concerns.
For the first time under the proposed improvements, candidates would also be able to assess the performance of their respective CBT centres by rating their examination experience after completing the test.
Aina said the feedback would help JAMB monitor the quality of services provided by its private-sector partners and ensure that centres maintain the standards expected of them.
“But we will be providing a button during the exam that allows you to report a faulty item.
“And obviously we will take all of that data and use it to interrogate those items and make sure that people are being assessed properly.
“At the end of the exam you will also be able to rate your CBT centre. Our private sector partners, the CBT centres have been very supportive since the inception of CBT over 10 years ago.
“And we continue to partner with them whilst holding them to the highest possible standards. So, we will also give candidates the opportunity to rate their experience at the centre. There are a few other things that we will still keep in the search for now.”
The planned innovations form part of JAMB’s broader efforts to improve candidates’ registration experience, strengthen examination monitoring and ensure greater transparency in the conduct of the 2027 UTME.
