JAMB restores CAPS, urges institutions to speed up 2026/2027 admissions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the full restoration of its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) following a temporary disruption that affected the platform.

The examination body said CAPS is now fully operational, allowing tertiary institutions to resume and accelerate admission processing for the 2026/2027 academic session.

JAMB disclosed this in an update to candidates, institutions and other stakeholders, urging schools to make up for the time lost during the disruption.

JAMB urges faster admission processing

The restoration of CAPS means tertiary institutions can resume admission processing on the centralised platform following the temporary disruption.

JAMB urged institutions to accelerate their admission processes to recover lost time, while candidates who receive admission offers have been advised to respond promptly.

• “CAPS is back and fully operational,” the Board stated.
• “With CAPS back online, institutions are urged to accelerate their admission processes to recover lost time and meet the agreed admission deadlines. Candidates are also advised to promptly accept admission offers made to them.”

2026 admission deadlines remain unchanged

JAMB maintained the existing deadlines for the completion of the 2026/2027 admission exercise across public universities, private universities and other tertiary institutions.

• Public universities are expected to conclude their admission processes by October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026.
• Other tertiary institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education, are expected to complete admissions by December 31, 2026.
• The Board’s latest directive means institutions will have to intensify their admission activities following the restoration of CAPS, particularly those whose processes were affected by the temporary downtime.

Candidates who receive admission offers through the platform have also been advised to respond promptly rather than delay accepting their offers.

JAMB issues notice to candidates awaiting NECO results

JAMB also advised candidates who had been awaiting the release of their 2026 National Examinations Council (NECO) Senior School Certificate Examination results to upload or verify their results on the relevant platform.

The directive follows the release of the 2026 NECO SSCE results and is intended to ensure candidates’ academic credentials are available to institutions as they step up their admission processes.

• “Following the release of the 2026 NECO SSCE results, candidates who previously awaited their results are advised to upload and/or verify them promptly to ensure their credentials are available for consideration as institutions intensify their admission processes,” JAMB said.

Failure to make the required results available could affect an institution’s ability to consider a candidate during the admission process.

CAPS powers tertiary admissions

The restoration comes days after JAMB announced the temporary shutdown of CAPS on September 24, citing technical challenges associated with the platform’s hosting arrangements.

• At the time, the Board said the disruption affected access to its centralised admission platform at a critical stage of the 2026/2027 admission exercise.
• CAPS is used by tertiary institutions to process admission recommendations and by candidates to monitor their admission status and accept or reject offers.
• The latest development also follows JAMB’s introduction of a one-time option for candidates to change their registered GSM numbers and email addresses.

On September 21, Nairametrics reported that the Board approved the service for candidates who had lost access to the contact details originally linked to their profiles.

The service, which commenced the same day, allows candidates with genuine cases to update their registered phone numbers or email addresses through a secure process at designated JAMB centres, including Professional Test Centres, Professional Registration Centres and State Offices where applicable.

JAMB has faced other technology-related disruptions in 2026. During the mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) held on March 28, candidates and parents reported system errors, network failures and delays at several examination centres.

The mock examination was conducted for 227,896 candidates nationwide, with some centres recording hours-long delays and others reportedly unable to commence the examination as scheduled.