The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has extended the deadline for candidates with outstanding admission offers from the 2021 to 2025 admission exercises to November 30, 2026. This decision was made to provide affected candidates with a final opportunity to either accept or reject their outstanding admission offers. The extension was necessary due to the temporary unavailability of the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) for about 96 hours.
Initially, JAMB had fixed September 30, 2026, as the deadline for candidates offered admission between 2021 and 2025 to update their admission records. However, the Board's management approved the new deadline in view of the recent disruption to the CAPS platform. Fabian Benjamin, Acting Director, Public Affairs and Protocol, issued a statement announcing the change.
Candidates who fail to accept or reject their outstanding offers by the new deadline will not be allowed to do so within the current window. Any subsequent request to update admission records relating to previous years will attract the applicable penalty fee. The Board emphasized that this intervention is crucial for candidates whose admissions were not reflected on the matriculation list.
Candidates whose admissions were not properly documented may encounter difficulties accessing benefits associated with properly documented admissions, including participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. The Board urged all affected candidates to take immediate action rather than wait until the expiration of the deadline.
Candidates who accept their outstanding admission offers will be able to print their admission letters, while those who reject them will have their dashboards reverted to “Not Admitted”. This will enable JAMB to update its records and ensure that the national admission database accurately reflects candidates’ current admission status.
The Board advised candidates who were no longer studying at institutions where previous admissions were offered, or who were pursuing different programmes, to accept the outstanding offers before applying for the appropriate correction or deletion. Candidates currently pursuing a second degree but with unaccepted admission offers from previous years were advised to reject such offers and continue with their current programmes.
JAMB reassured candidates offered admission in the 2026 admission exercise that rejecting an outstanding offer from a previous year would not affect their current admission. All outstanding admission offers from the 2021 to 2025 admission exercises that remain neither accepted nor rejected by November 30, 2026, will automatically revert to “Not Admitted” status on its records.
Key points
- The deadline for acceptance of 2021-2025 admissions has been extended to November 30, 2026.
- Candidates who fail to accept or reject their outstanding offers by the deadline will face penalties.
- Rejecting an outstanding offer will not affect a candidate's current admission status.
