JAMB Releases 1.26 Million 2026 UTME Results After Delay, Total Hits 1.89 Million

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released another batch of results for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), bringing relief to hundreds of thousands of candidates who had been waiting anxiously.

The latest release covers candidates who sat for the exam on April 17 and April 18, with a total of 1,264,940 results now available for checking.

In a statement shared via its official X platform, the board’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, confirmed that candidates can access their scores by sending “UTMERESULT” to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number used during registration.

This latest update comes just hours after JAMB apologised for a delay that sparked frustration among candidates nationwide. The board had initially promised to release the results earlier but cited the temporary absence of its chief executive as the reason for the setback.

With the new figures, the total number of results released so far has risen to 1,897,692, including the 632,752 results previously made available for candidates who wrote the exam on April 16.

The 2026 UTME, which began on April 16, has seen a significant rise in participation, with over 2.24 million candidates registered—an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the previous year.

Officials say the examination is being conducted across accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide, with daily sessions divided into four slots to reduce congestion and improve efficiency.

A breakdown of registrations shows that Lagos State recorded the highest number of candidates, followed by Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory.

Outside Nigeria, only a small number of candidates sat for the exam, with Côte d’Ivoire leading the list, followed by Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, and the United Kingdom.

JAMB’s phased release of results continues as the nationwide examination progresses, with more candidates expected to access their scores in the coming days.