JAMB to monitor 2026 UTME live via CCTV

…all CBT centres mandated to install CCTV

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has unveiled plans to monitor the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) live using Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras across examination centres nationwide.

To ensure this policy successfully implemented, JAMB on Monday ordered all computer-based test centres to install live CCTV cameras, warning that facilities without real-time surveillance will be barred from registering candidates or conducting the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

According to the bard, the new policy tagged, ‘no vision, no registration, no UTME’, examinations will be monitored live from JAMB’s headquarters in Abuja, tightening oversight as the body steps up efforts to curb malpractice.

This comes after JAMB withheld the results of 39,834 candidates in 2025 over suspected examination malpractice.

Is-haq Oloyede, the registrar and chief executive officer at JAMB emphasised that the directive marks the centralisation of the country’s crucial tertiary institutions’ entrance examinations, as board seeks to restore credibility to a system repeatedly undermined by impersonation, question leaks, and collusion at test centres.

By requiring live surveillance feeds to Abuja and standardising equipment across centres, the board is moving to assert tighter control over facilities that serve over a million candidates each year.

“Erring centres would be sanctioned, including possible prosecution. All existing computer-based test (CBT) centres must have migrated to the HIKVision,” Oloyede instructed.

He emphasised that in practice, the order requires all centres to upgrade or replace existing surveillance equipment with HIKVision hardware and software, creating a single, standardised monitoring system.

Besides, he maintained that centres whose registration activities cannot be viewed from JAMB’s headquarters in Abuja would forfeit payment and risk having their registrations invalidated, signalling the board’s willingness to impose financial penalties to enforce compliance.

According to data from JAMB, the board has provisionally screened 924 CBT centres ahead of the 2026 UTME, with final accreditation still pending before they can host registration and the exam itself.

As the board prepares for another large cohort in 2026, it is building on last year’s turnout, which had over two million candidates registered.