JAMB Restores CAPS, Urges Institutions to Speed Up 2026 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 paralysed admission processing across the country for four days, and has urged tertiary institutions to accelerate their admission processes to recover lost time and meet agreed deadlines.

In its weekly bulletin issued on Monday, the board said CAPS was restored on Sunday, September 27, 2026, and is now fully operational. The disruption, which began on September 24, was caused by an administrative challenge involving the platform’s hosting organisation. JAMB said it worked with relevant service providers to restore and stabilise the system, while apologising to candidates, institutions and other stakeholders for the inconvenience caused. The Acting Director of Public Affairs, Dr Fabian Benjamin, confirmed that the portal was fully restored, and the board assured stakeholders that it was working to make the system more stable by introducing alternative systems and arrangements to minimise the effect of future disruptions.

The outage occurred at the peak of the 2026/2027 admission exercise, raising anxiety among millions of candidates awaiting admission offers and institutions struggling to process applications within the timelines set at the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions. The restoration of CAPS has effectively reopened the gateway for admissions, and JAMB has moved swiftly to direct institutions to make up for the time lost. “The Board consequently urges all institutions to immediately accelerate their admission processes to recover the time lost during the period of the disruption and ensure compliance with the admission deadlines agreed at the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions,” the bulletin stated.

According to the resolutions adopted at the policy meeting, public universities are expected to conclude their admission processes on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026. Other tertiary institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education, have until December 31, 2026, to complete their admissions. JAMB specifically urged public universities to intensify admissions following the release of the 2026 Senior School Certificate Examination results by the National Examinations Council (NECO). The board noted that the release of the results had provided institutions with the information needed to process more admissions before the October 31 deadline, and advised candidates who had been waiting for their NECO results to upload or verify their results on the appropriate platform without further delay.

JAMB also advised candidates who had received admission offers to promptly accept them through CAPS, warning that failure to do so within the stipulated timeframe could result in the forfeiture of the offer. The board assured stakeholders that it would speed up the consideration and approval of admission recommendations submitted by institutions through CAPS, a commitment aimed at ensuring that the admission calendar for the 2026/2027 academic session is not further disrupted.

The CAPS platform is the central hub through which all admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions are processed, ensuring transparency, accountability, and compliance with admission guidelines. Its disruption had threatened to derail the entire admission cycle, with many institutions unable to upload candidate lists or make offers. The swift restoration of the system has been welcomed by stakeholders, but the four-day outage has left institutions with a compressed timeline to complete admissions, particularly public universities that must conclude by the end of October.

For millions of candidates across the country, the restoration of CAPS brings renewed hope after days of uncertainty. Many had been unable to check their admission status or accept offers, and the disruption had fuelled anxiety about whether they would secure a place for the 2026/2027 academic session. With the system now operational and JAMB urging institutions to accelerate their processes, the coming weeks will be critical for candidates and institutions alike.

The board’s promise to introduce alternative systems to prevent future disruptions reflects a recognition that the reliability of CAPS is essential to the integrity of Nigeria’s admission system. As the October 31 deadline for public universities approaches, the pressure is on institutions to act swiftly. For candidates, the message is clear: the window for admission is open, and it is time to act. JAMB has restored the platform, but the responsibility for meeting the deadlines now rests with the institutions and the candidates themselves.