Nigeria’s university entrance exams will now be monitored by live CCTV

Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which oversees university entrance exams, 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 (UTME). 

Under the policy — dubbed “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. 

The directive marks the centralisation of Nigeria’s high-stakes university entry exams, as JAMB 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,” JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, cautioned. “All existing computer-based test (CBT) centres must have migrated to the HIKVision.” 

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. 

Oloyede said 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.

Official figures from JAMB show that 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.

While JAMB has not yet published a final registration tally, it is building on last year’s turnout—when over two million candidates registered for the 2025 UTME—as it prepares for another large cohort in 2026.