The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced eight tertiary institutions as winners of the 2025 National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award (NATAP-M), with a total prize of N750 million.
The winners were announced shortly after the 2026 policy meeting on admissions to tertiary institutions, held in Abuja on Monday.
Every year since 2018, JAMB has rewarded tertiary institutions for compliance with its admission guidelines, transparency in admissions and adherence to the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).
Criteria for selection
Explaining the selection process, JAMB said institutions were assessed based on five key performance indicators.
The criteria include institution with the most national in terms of admission spread, admission of candidates from every state of the federation and the FCT, institutions with a minimum admission of 1,500 candidates, fair distribution of admitted candidates among catchment states, or all states in the case of specialised military institutions and institutions with effective coverage of at least 0.25 (1/400) of states where nationwide coverage is not achieved.
Other considerations include institutions with the highest admission of foreign candidates, the most improved gender balance, the most improvement in female student intake compared to the previous year, the most compliant with admission guidelines, one with full processing of admissions on CAPS, one with completion of admissions within stipulated timelines, one with timely issuance of matriculation invitations, submission of matriculation lists on CAPS, and one with no record of admission infractions
Winners
This year, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, emerged as the overall winner with six points and was awarded N500 million.
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The University of Jos emerged runner-up with five points and received N75 million, while the University of Ilorin, Lagos State University, Nile University, and Akwa Ibom University all tied as second runners-up with three points each and received N25 million each.
Kaduna State Polytechnic, Kaduna, emerged as the best polytechnic with six points and received N50 million.
Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan-Waya, Kaduna, emerged as the best college of education with six points and was awarded N50 million.
JAMB introduced a restriction: any institution that wins the full award will be eligible only for a nominal award within five years, to prevent consecutive wins.