The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has begun clearing thousands of candidates whose academic and career plans were stalled by errors in their personal records. The examination body has cleared more than 3,000 candidates affected by mistakes in their personal information, after a review of its data correction policy.
For many of them, the problem was not a failed exam or a missing result. It was a misspelt name, or a surname that no longer matched their marital status, sitting in a database that would not let them fix it.
What JAMB has done
According to a TheCable report on Monday, November 2, 2026, JAMB Registrar Segun Aina ordered a review of cases involving candidates who had been unable to correct their records because of restrictions on changes to personal details.
An official of the board said many of the affected candidates had secured valid admission and had not committed any admission-related offence. In other words, these were not cheats or impersonators. They were ordinary candidates caught in a system that treated every change request with suspicion.
The affected group includes women who need to update their surnames after marriage, and candidates who entered the wrong first or last name during registration.
A student, a loan and a single wrong name
The human cost shows up clearly in one case TheCable documented.
A final-year Linguistics student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said a name error made during his National Identification Number (NIN) registration in 2021 blocked him from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) student loan. He had earned his place honestly. He scored 250 in the 2021 UTME and gained admission to OAU on merit.
The trouble was a mismatch between records. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) had already corrected his details, but JAMB initially turned down his request because its policy only allowed corrections of individual letters, not wider name changes.
He did not give up. He visited JAMB offices in Ibadan and Osogbo several times before the correction was finally approved in mid-October 2026, a process that reportedly took about 30 minutes. Months of trips, for a fix that took half an hour once the policy allowed it.
He also said he had met other graduates who could not go forward with NYSC mobilisation because of similar discrepancies.
Why JAMB restricted changes in the first place
The strict rules were not random. JAMB made the NIN compulsory for UTME and Direct Entry registration in 2020, to harmonise candidates’ identities and make it easier to spot people attempting multiple registrations.
A source within the board said the limits on changing personal data were also meant to stop candidates from manipulating their records to get around the admission system.
The catch is that genuine mistakes got treated like manipulation. The policy created difficulties for people with honest errors, particularly those who had already corrected their details with NIMC but still could not update their JAMB profiles.
New fixes: NIMC alignment and lost SIM or email
JAMB is now working on the root of the mismatch problem. The board is working with NIMC to resolve discrepancies between candidates’ examination records and their verified identity information.
NIMC spokesperson Kayode Adegoke said the commission has introduced a self-service modification portal that lets Nigerians correct details such as names, phone numbers and residential addresses, and that millions of modifications have reportedly been made through it.
This sits alongside a separate JAMB service announced weeks earlier. The board said it would launch an NIN alignment service allowing candidates to change their biodata to match their official identity, which Aina said could unlock NYSC participation for thousands of graduates. The service targets candidates whose names, dates of birth, gender or state and local government of origin do not match across the JAMB and NIMC databases.
There is also relief for candidates who lost access to the phone number or email tied to their profile. Previously, losing a registered SIM card could stop candidates from receiving the verification codes needed for transactions on the platform. Under the new arrangement, eligible candidates can apply to update their phone numbers after identity verification, and can request corrections to wrongly entered email addresses or recover their accounts.
A wider push to clear complaints
The clearance fits a broader effort at JAMB under Aina. Aina reportedly moved his seat to the board’s SERVICOM Unit to see candidates’ problems first-hand, and more than 5,000 pending complaints were resolved within five days. Cases handled included candidates who had lost phones or SIM cards, and others involving change of name.
What candidates should do now
If you are one of the people affected, here is the practical path, based on what the board and NIMC have said so far:
- Fix your NIN record first: Candidates should make sure their NIN information is accurate before asking for changes to their JAMB records. Use NIMC’s self-service portal or an NIMC office.
- Gather supporting documents: A birth certificate, affidavit, LGA certificate or NIN slip that matches your updated data can be useful.
- Submit all corrections at once: JAMB has urged candidates to review their details carefully and select every needed correction in a single submission.
- Use official channels only: Corrections go through the JAMB eFacility portal. Candidates should use only approved JAMB centres or offices, and avoid anyone offering unofficial correction help.
For freshers, the board’s advice is blunt. Candidates are urged to verify their personal information carefully before creating a profile, because identity details form the basis of admission records.
Not to be confused with the 2025 UTME error
This story is separate from last year’s UTME scoring scandal. That one was a server-update problem, which affected 379,997 candidates across 157 of 882 centres and led to a resit. The current clearance is about personal data such as names, phone numbers and emails, not exam results.
