Rising Costs May Force JAMB To Review UTME Fees — Spokesman

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LAGOS – The Joint Admissions and Matric­ulation Board (JAMB) has hint­ed that the cost of obtaining the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) form may be reviewed upward in the future as rising operational expenses continue to put pressure on the conduct of the examination.

The board’s Public Communi­cation Adviser, Dr. Fabian Benja­min, stated this during a dialogue organised by the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN), via Zoom.

The dialogue, themed ‘2026 Ad­mission Policy Review and JAMB Scorecard: A Conversation with the Registrar’.

Dr. Fabian Benjamin stressed that his comments represented an economic analysis rather than an official position of the board.

According to him, the prevail­ing economic realities suggest that Nigerians should not rule out such a possibility.

Benjamin, who was reflect­ing on the board’s activities over the last decade under the leader­ship of the Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, added, “Based on the cost of things and the demands from service providers, one should not be surprised if there is an increase in the future. But that is not my position; the registrar and the management will make such decisions.”

He said the current UTME registration fee stands at N3,500, following a reduction from N5,000 in 2018, a move the board said was made possible by prudent man­agement and operational savings.

Benjamin explained that de­spite remitting over N50 billion as operating surplus to the Federal Government in the last ten years, JAMB should not be viewed as a revenue-generating agency.

According to him, the remit­tances were in line with govern­ment regulations requiring public agencies to return a percentage of their excess earnings to the treasury.

He noted that a significant portion of the money paid by candidates does not remain with JAMB, as the board pays private Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres that host examinations nationwide.

Out of more than 1,000 accred­ited CBT centres across the coun­try, he said JAMB directly owns fewer than 50, making the board heavily dependent on private op­erators.

“Many of these centres have continued to complain that what they receive is no longer commen­surate with current realities, con­sidering the rising cost of electric­ity, equipment maintenance and other operational expenses,” he explained.

He said the development sug­gests that any future review of UTME fees would likely be driv­en by inflationary pressures and increased service delivery costs rather than a desire to generate additional revenue.

Benjamin recalled that one of the major reforms introduced by the current administration was the migration from an ex­pensive satellite-based examina­tion system that reportedly cost about N1.2 billion annually to a synchronised telecoms-based platform costing less than N100 million.

The transition, he said, en­abled the board to cut waste, im­prove efficiency and ultimately reduce examination fees for can­didates.

“Our fee is among the lowest, not only in Nigeria but even when compared with examination bod­ies across Africa and internation­ally,” he stated.

According to him, while many Nigerians advocate further reduc­tions or even free registration, such expectations may not align with the realities of running large-scale technology-driven ex­aminations.

Meanwhile, Benjamin defend­ed the one-year validity period for UTME results, explaining that the examination is essentially a selec­tion and ranking exercise rather than a certification examination like the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

He argued that extending the validity period beyond one admission cycle would require a complete restructuring of the examination model, including the introduction of aptitude test­ing and continuous assessment mechanisms.

The JAMB spokesman main­tained that although such chang­es are technically possible, they may not necessarily serve the interests of candidates who wish to improve their scores in subse­quent years.

As debates continue over the affordability of tertiary education and access to admission opportu­nities, the prospect of a future increase in UTME fees is likely to generate fresh conversations among parents, students and ed­ucation stakeholders across the country.