Candidates who sat the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on its second and third days were left frustrated on Monday after waiting for hours to access their results, despite assurances by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board that scores had been released.
The board had earlier announced that results for candidates who wrote the examination on Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18, were available, with a total of 1,264,940 results ready for checking.
In a statement by its Public Communication Adviser, Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB directed candidates to send “UTMERESULT” to 55019 or 66019 using the phone number used during registration.
Benjamin also disclosed the release on his X handle at about 7.19pm, urging candidates to prepare “emotionally and mentally” to check their results within hours.
However, checks by our correspondent revealed that several candidates were unable to access their results until nearly four hours after the announcement, sparking outrage online.
Many candidates took to the comment section of the spokesperson’s post to express frustration, lamenting repeated charges of N100 per SMS request without receiving any response.
One user, @AondonaT8755, wrote, “Good evening sir, it has been two hours since you posted and the results are yet out. Some candidates have spent over N3,000 on airtime already. What’s the update?”
Another user, @EnebezerAk44182, decried the situation, saying, “Please do you guys know how much we are spending to check our results and yet they keep telling us that our results are not yet released?”
Similarly, @EmmaneulIk25447 described the experience as exploitative, alleging that candidates were being made to pay repeatedly without success.
The development has triggered concerns among candidates, many of whom questioned the board’s preparedness and transparency in managing the result release process.
