The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has begun reviewing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with a committee considering the inclusion of life skills and critical thinking in the assessment.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Segun Aina, disclosed this on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, in Abuja while inaugurating a committee of education stakeholders and assessment experts to develop a framework for the proposed reform.
Aina said the review would determine whether the current UTME remains effective in identifying candidates with the potential to succeed in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
He noted that UTME primarily ranks candidates who already hold O-Level qualifications, raising questions about the need to duplicate subject assessments conducted by bodies such as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO).
The registrar said JAMB was therefore examining ways to assess skills candidates apply beyond subject knowledge, while testing whether its current methods remain reliable predictors of tertiary-level performance.
He noted that UTME’s basic structure had remained largely unchanged for more than three decades despite changes in curricula and the skills demanded by higher education.
Aina said the committee was deliberately drawn from across the education sector to provide wider expertise and stakeholder input.
The panel has four weeks to examine the proposal and submit initial recommendations, with further technical work expected if the reform progresses.
Representing Education Minister, Dr Tunji Alausa, the Technical Assistant to the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Oni Adedeji, said the initiative aligned with efforts to strengthen assessment in the sector.
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Alausa tasked the committee with developing fair, transparent and standardised methods capable of measuring analytical, logical and verbal reasoning alongside subject knowledge.
He said the panel would determine whether the proposed skills should form a separate component or be integrated into existing UTME subjects.
The committee chairman, Prof. Boniface Nworgu of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said UTME’s effectiveness should be measured by how well it identifies candidates capable of succeeding academically at the tertiary level.
He said the transition from the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards to the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards had further increased emphasis on skills and critical thinking.
Nworgu said the committee would rely on evidence to assess whether proposed changes improve the examination’s predictive value and justify the resources required.
The review follows calls for JAMB reforms during the 2025 UTME controversy. In May 2025, education stakeholders proposed measures including the use of critical-thinking-based questions.
However, the latest initiative remains at the review stage, and no new UTME format has been approved.
The committee comprises representatives of universities, examination bodies, professional regulatory councils, secondary schools, student organisations and development agencies, including WAEC, the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, National Association of Nigerian Students and United Nations Development Programme.
The committee is expected to submit its preliminary recommendations within four weeks, after which JAMB will determine the next phase of the review.