THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has directed all public universities in Nigeria to conclude their 2025 admission processes by October 31, 2025.
This was disclosed in the board’s weekly bulletin released on Monday, August 18.
It also ordered private universities to complete their admissions by November 30, 2025, while all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, both public and private, are expected to conclude the process by the end of the year.
“Following the directives issued at the 2025 Policy Meeting chaired by the Honourable Minister of Education, all tertiary institutions have been instructed to conclude their admission processes by the end of 2025.
“Public universities to complete admissions by 31st October, 2025. Private universities to complete admissions by 30th November, 2025. All other institutions (public and private) to complete admissions by 31st December 2025,” the circular stated.
The ICIR reported in July that JAMB set 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admissions into Nigerian universities for the 2024/2025 academic session.
The body set 100 as the minimum cut-off mark for admissions into polytechnics and colleges of education, with a minimum cut-off mark for colleges of nursing sciences was set at 140.
The JAMB urged all institutions to conclude admissions before the stipulated deadlines, noting that even if any institution is not prepared to begin a new academic session, it should process and archive its admissions.
“Consequently, institutions conducting post-UTME screenings are expected to conclude those exercises in good time to comply with the 2025 admissions schedule,” JAMB said.
The ICIR reported that after the resit UTME results were released on May 25, JAMB noted that 1,365,479 (70.7 per cent) out of 1.9 million candidates scored below 200..
In the initial results released by JAMB on May 9, 2025, JAMB said over 1.5 million candidates out of 1.9 million candidates who took the exam scored below 200 out of the total 400 marks.
This development led to outrage with many Nigerians calling for a probe into the mass failure.
The Board registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, apologised for the trauma caused, admitting to errors in handling the examination, after an investigation.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.