Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is holding its 2026 Policy Meeting today, May 11, to determine the minimum scores candidates must achieve to gain admission into universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across the country, with Sierra Leone sending a delegation to witness the process firsthand.
The meeting, chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, marks one of the most consequential events in the academic calendar for the hundreds of thousands of candidates who sat the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
JAMB’s public communication advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the details in a statement posted on his X handle, noting that all guidelines governing the 2026 admission cycle would be considered and formally adopted at the session.
“At the meeting, guidelines for the 2026 admission into all tertiary institutions in Nigeria will be considered and adopted, including the determination of the minimum tolerable scores for admissions,” he stated.
For candidates awaiting their admission fate, today’s meeting is the moment that defines the threshold. The cut off marks adopted will determine which candidates are eligible for consideration by institutions and which fall below the admissible benchmark.
Sierra Leone’s deputy minister of Education, Mr Sarjoh Aziz Kamara, is attending alongside the Vice Chancellor of Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, Prof Edwin Momoh, and the Vice Chancellor of Njala University, Prof Bashiru Koroma. Their country is working towards establishing a centralised admission body modelled after JAMB to address growing pressures on its tertiary admission system.
Benjamin revealed that the delegation was taken through JAMB’s examination and admission processes at the board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, ahead of today’s session.
“During the Policy Meeting, they will also witness firsthand how critical stakeholders are actively carried along in the admission value chain,” he disclosed.
He added that Sierra Leonean officials expressed appreciation to JAMB, noting that the growing admission population in their country had created serious challenges, which Nigeria’s model appears well positioned to address.
For Nigerian candidates, the next step after today’s meeting is to monitor the officially announced cut off marks and confirm their eligibility before the admission portal opens.
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