JAMB will decide the Jamb Cut Off Mark For 2026 on Monday when it holds its annual policy meeting in Abuja, a gathering that will set the minimum scores for admission into tertiary institutions. The meeting will be chaired by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa.
The board said the session will consider and adopt guidelines for the 2026 admission exercise and determine the minimum tolerable scores for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and nursing schools. That makes Monday the day the broad rules for the 2026/2027 intake begin to take shape.
The benchmark debate matters because last year’s policy meeting fixed 150 points as the minimum for universities, kept 100 points for polytechnics and colleges of education, and set colleges of nursing at 140 points nationwide. In 2023, tertiary institutions had adopted 140 points for universities and 100 points for polytechnics and colleges of education, and those same benchmarks were retained for the 2024 admission cycle.
This year’s meeting is also drawing attention beyond Nigeria. Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Education, Sarjoh Kamara, is in the country with the Vice-Chancellor of Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, Edwin Momoh, and the Vice-Chancellor of Njala University, Bashiru Koroma. The delegation was taken through JAMB’s examination and admission processes at the board’s headquarters in Bwari on Sunday and will witness the policy meeting in Abuja.
JAMB spokesman Fabian Benjamin said the visitors will see how stakeholders are carried along in the admission value chain. He said the group is in Nigeria to study the centralised admission system as Sierra Leone considers setting up a body similar to JAMB to streamline its own process. Benjamin added that Sierra Leone’s rising admission population has created serious challenges there.
The comparison lands at a time when JAMB itself has faced criticism over technical glitches during examinations, high registration costs, difficulties with admissions and concerns about transparency. Still, the board continues to shape who enters Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, and Monday’s meeting will set the tone for the 2026/2027 admission exercise.
JAMB said the policy meeting is expected to formally define the next admission cycle, leaving little doubt that the first real answer on the Jamb Cut Off Mark For 2026 will come from Abuja on Monday.
