House Mandates JAMB To Establish 1 CBT Centre In All LGAs

The House of Representatives has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to establish at least one Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre in each of the 774 local government areas across the country.

The House also mandated its Committee on Appropriations to make provisions for the construction of these CBT centres in the 2026 budget.

This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Abdulmaruf Adebayo, who raised concerns about the challenges faced by candidates during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

According to him, many candidates travel long distances to access CBT centres, exposing them to psychological stress, road accidents, kidnapping, and other security threats.

He recalled a tragic incident involving students from Oyo State who lost their lives while traveling for the UTME.

Adebayo also pointed out that JAMB recently admitted to technical errors that negatively affected the performance of many candidates in the 2025 UTME, which forced the board to reconduct exams for 379,997 affected candidates in Lagos and the South-East.

Contributing to the debate, Olufemi Ogunbanwo called for a thorough investigation into the poor performance and logistical issues, questioning why some exams were scheduled for as early as 6:30 am, despite prevailing security concerns.

He also urged the House to compel JAMB to release the results of candidates under the age of 16, in line with an earlier House resolution which directed the suspension of the policy barring under-16 candidates from admission.

On his part, Sada Soli commended the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, for taking responsibility for the glitches, noting that the Registrar appeared on national television, admitted the lapses, and apologized,an act rarely seen among public officials.

Soli recounted that during his past investigation of JAMB, the Registrar’s transparency and reforms had significantly improved the agency’s operations and revenue generation, growing from N1–2 billion to over N17 billion annually.

Following an extensive debate, the house mandated the Committees on Basic Education, ICT, and other relevant stakeholders to work with JAMB to address technical glitches affecting the examination process.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji