Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is preparing to introduce live facial verification for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, adding a second biometric method to a process that has long relied on fingerprint matching.
Reports citing the board’s weekly bulletin say a candidate’s live facial image will be compared with the identity record held by the National Identity Management Commission. The connection would link exam verification to the national identity data supplied when a candidate registers with a National Identification Number.
JAMB expects the change to be gradual. The reported plan gives the board two to three years to introduce facial verification and reduce its dependence on fingerprint checks, rather than replacing fingerprints at the start of the next examination cycle.
Candidates will continue to provide all ten fingerprints during registration while the new process is developed. JAMB’s existing rules use biometric checks to prevent multiple registrations, impersonation and the transfer of examination records between candidates.
The board has faced recurring cases in which legitimate candidates cannot be verified because their fingerprints are difficult to capture or no longer match reliably. Nigeria scheduled a mop-up examination after fingerprint verification failures affected candidates during the 2026 cycle.
Live facial matching would give test centers an alternative way to establish that the person appearing for an examination is the individual associated with the registration record. The plan also builds on JAMB’s longstanding use of biometrics in the university admissions process.
JAMB’s registration process already requires candidates to supply a National Identification Number before creating a profile. According to the board’s public guidance, personal details such as name, date of birth and gender are drawn from the NIMC record and cannot be changed directly by JAMB.
The planned facial check would deepen that dependency by using the national identity record as the reference for biometric matching. NIMC operates the national ID database and issues the identification numbers used across a growing range of Nigerian public and private services.
During the initial rollout, candidates will continue providing fingerprints while live facial matching offers an alternative for people whose prints cannot be verified. The transition preserves the examination system’s anti-impersonation controls while giving JAMB another way to confirm a candidate’s identity.
Sources: The Sun Nigeria, Legit Nigeria, JAMB
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
