JAMB extends 2025 public university admissions deadline to November 17 amid processing delays

On November 3, 2025, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board announced a last-minute extension to the admissions deadline for Nigeria’s public universities—pushing it to November 17, 2025. The move, confirmed by the Daily Post, came after 23 universities failed to submit Post-UTME screening scores for 135 under-age candidates, creating a bottleneck that threatened to leave hundreds of students in limbo just weeks before the new academic year. This isn’t the first delay. Back in September, Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Public Relations, had already extended the deadline for under-age candidate assessments after institutions missed the September 15 cutoff. Now, with the original October 30 deadline for public universities unreachable, JAMB is scrambling to close the gap—without sacrificing fairness.

Why the delay? A system under strain

The root of the problem lies in how Nigeria’s tertiary admissions work. The Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), managed by JAMB, requires every public university to upload their screening results electronically. But as of mid-September, 23 out of 40 federal and state universities hadn’t submitted scores for 135 under-age applicants. These are students who took the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) but were below the minimum age requirement—typically 16. They needed special clearance after the National Examinations Council (NECO) released its 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results on September 17, 2025. That’s when the real crunch began.

Of the 176 under-age candidates screened overall, five universities accounted for nearly all the delays. The University of Lagos in Yaba, Lagos State, lagged behind with 39 unresolved cases. Then came Nile University of Nigeria (18), Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State (15), University of Abuja (12), and University of Uyo (9). That’s 93% of the affected candidates concentrated in just five institutions.

Who’s responsible—and who’s paying the price?

JAMB’s Fabian Benjamin didn’t mince words. In a statement issued on September 18, 2025, he told institutions: “We’ve formally written to the universities involved, directing them to submit the outstanding screening scores without further delay.” But the delays persisted. Some schools cited staffing shortages. Others blamed outdated IT systems. One university reportedly lost data during a server migration. The truth? Many institutions treated CAPS as a suggestion, not a mandate.

The pressure didn’t come just from JAMB. The entire framework was shaped by the 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions, chaired by Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, Nigeria’s Minister of Education. The meeting, held earlier in 2025, set hard deadlines: October 30 for public universities, November 30 for private ones. Private institutions like Nile University still have until November 30 to finish, but public universities—funded by taxpayers and bound by federal policy—were expected to lead by example. They didn’t.

Now, the 135 students caught in the middle are mostly from Lagos, Abuja, Anambra, and Akwa Ibom. Some are 15-year-olds who aced their SSCE exams. Others are children of civil servants who relied on the system to deliver. Their parents are calling JAMB offices daily. Some have already booked lodgings near campuses, hoping for confirmation. One mother in Port Harcourt told the Daily Post: “I sold my second-hand car to pay for my daughter’s accommodation. Now she might miss the semester. What do I tell her?”

What’s different this time?

Unlike previous years, JAMB isn’t just extending deadlines—it’s tracking non-compliance publicly. The names of the offending institutions were disclosed in September. That’s new. So is the fact that JAMB is now coordinating directly with state governments to apply pressure. In Lagos State, the governor’s office was briefed. In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory administration issued a warning to its own university. For the first time, institutional reputation is being tied to admissions performance.

And here’s the twist: the extension doesn’t mean the system is fixed. It just buys time. JAMB’s IT team is working overtime to verify scores manually for the 135 cases. If universities still don’t submit by November 17, those candidates could be dropped entirely. No appeals. No exceptions. “We’re not punishing students,” Benjamin said. “We’re punishing institutions that refuse to play by the rules.”

What’s next? A system in transition

The November 17 deadline is the immediate fix. But the real question is whether this will trigger systemic change. In 2023, JAMB introduced CAPS to eliminate paper-based fraud and centralize control. It worked—until now. The fact that 23 universities still operate in silos suggests deeper problems: underfunded IT departments, bureaucratic inertia, and a culture of non-accountability.

Experts say the next step is mandatory audits. “If a university misses two deadlines in a row, they should lose their CAPS access,” says Dr. Ngozi Okoro, an education policy analyst at the University of Ibadan. “No more extensions. No more excuses. Either you’re part of the system, or you’re out.”

Meanwhile, JAMB has promised to publish a list of universities that met all deadlines by November 20. Transparency, they say, is the new weapon. For the 135 students, it’s the only thing standing between them and a lost year.