JAMB Canada Centre: 4 Myths About the Ottawa UTME From 2027

The JAMB Canada centre isn't open yet. JAMB plans to start it in Ottawa with the 2027 UTME, so you can't register there today.

Prof. Segun Aina, JAMB's registrar, shared the plan on the board's social media after he visited the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa (Vanguard, 5 October). It still hangs on final arrangements with the High Commission. Ottawa would join ten foreign centres JAMB already runs. Across all ten, just 379 candidates registered for this year's exam, TVC News reports. Each one paid $30.

Interest from Canada is modest too. More than 100 people there have reached out, says JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin (Pulse). Keep those small numbers in mind, because they matter when we get to the fourth myth.

Four claims about Ottawa keep going round on WhatsApp and X, and below we test each one against what JAMB and the press had said by 7 October.

"You can already register for JAMB in Canada"

Not yet. JAMB is aiming at next year's exam and hasn't announced an Ottawa registration window, fee or exam date. When we checked jamb.gov.ng on 7 October, the homepage had no Ottawa notice and no dates for next year's registration.

Aina says JAMB won't buy or rent a building. Instead, it'll set up temporary space at the High Commission and lean on the staff there to help run the exam, the same way it already works with Nigerian missions in other countries (The Sun). JAMB and the High Commission still have to finalise that deal. Treat the start date as a target for now.

Canada is a big country. Nobody at JAMB has mentioned a second site anywhere in North America, so if you live in Toronto, Calgary or the US, expect to travel to Ottawa for exam day.

Leave room for change once a date appears. This year's UTME held in May, but TVC News reports that candidates in Jeddah and Buea wrote it later because of unforeseen circumstances. A flexible ticket costs a little more and can save you a wasted trip.

At the current foreign centres, Nigerian embassies, high commissions and consulates guide candidates through registration and the exam, according to a JAMB bulletin of 18 May cited by TVC News. Canada will probably follow that model. Until details land, watch jamb.gov.ng and the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa, which would host the sitting.

If you're hunting for a JAMB PIN for Ottawa, stop there: none exists yet. On 7 October, jamb.gov.ng didn't set out this year's ePIN or profile steps. For JAMB's online services in general, candidates log in and pay on the e-Facility portal (efacility.jamb.gov.ng).

If someone in your WhatsApp group swears they've registered already, ask where the notice came from. A real one sits on jamb.gov.ng or comes through the High Commission. A stranger's screenshot is neither.

"Writing JAMB in Ottawa will get you into a Canadian university"

It won't. The UTME gets you into Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, and no Canadian university will ask for your score. According to JAMB, Ottawa exists so Nigerians abroad can write the exam without flying home just for it (Vanguard).

Aina told TVC News he wants better access for Nigerians in Canada and across North America. Pulse names two groups who'd use it. First come families in Canada who plan to send their children to a Nigerian university. Then there are the children of Nigerian public servants posted abroad, who may need to sit the exam wherever their parents happen to be working at the time. Aina also mentions people who move back home each year, which he puts at "100s of people" (The Sun).

If your parents keep saying you'll do university in Nigeria the way they did, this centre has you in mind.

Critics on X doubt many diaspora students want to study in Nigeria at all (Pulse, The Nigeria Education News). That's a fair point about demand. It doesn't change what the exam is for.

For a family in Canada, order matters. Decide first whether a Nigerian school is really on your child's list. If it isn't, skip the UTME, because Canadian applications don't involve it.

"JAMB abroad must cost hundreds of dollars"

Not any more. TVC News reports that JAMB charged foreign candidates $30, or the local equivalent, for this year's UTME.

Older readers may remember a much steeper fee. Ahead of the 2018 exam, ThisDay reported a big cut for everyone sitting abroad. JAMB's management approved "$20 per candidate", well below what foreign candidates had paid the year before. That was a drop of more than three-quarters in one go, and the fee today still sits far under the old level.

How the foreign fee has moved, as reported:

No Ottawa fee exists yet, so ignore any figure you see online until JAMB publishes one. If the foreign fee stays near today's level, your bus or train fare to Ottawa may cost more than the form. Budget for the trip, plus a night's stay if you live far away.

Look at where JAMB's foreign centres sit now and you'll see why Ottawa made news. TVC News lists eight in Africa, among them Accra, Buea and Johannesburg, plus London and Jeddah. Nothing on that list is in North America, so Ottawa would be JAMB's first centre in Canada and its only one on the whole continent. Older lists online may not match; go by the current one and whatever JAMB publishes next year.

"The JAMB Canada centre is just a revenue move"

The sums say otherwise. TVC News counted 379 foreign candidates this year. Multiply by the fee and you get roughly $11,370 for all ten centres together, across the whole year.

Now suppose every interested person in Canada signed up at the same fee. Ottawa would add about $3,000 a year, which is far too little to move JAMB's books.

Cost, not profit, is the sharper complaint. Some critics on X say supervising foreign centres already costs JAMB too much (The Nigeria Education News), while others want the money spent at home first, on CBT centres, old computers and registration problems. A few would rather see online proctoring or a partnership with a Canadian testing body.

You can see why people are cross. If your own CBT centre froze halfway through your exam, a new site in Canada would feel like the wrong priority.

JAMB has replied on two fronts. Aina says the UTME already runs abroad "as a service to enhance access to education" (Edugist), and that candidate numbers are "not the main driving force" behind where centres go. He has also said Ottawa isn't meant to "generate revenue for the Board" (TVC News).

On cost, he says "not a single kobo" has gone in so far (The Sun). JAMB plans no permanent facility, because the exam would run inside the High Commission's premises to keep spending down. Benjamin went further, asking objectors whether they had looked at candidate numbers in London, Jeddah and Ghana before they started complaining about Canada.

So drop the profit theory. Two fair questions remain: whether JAMB can keep running costs as low as Aina promises, and whether enough candidates will turn up in Ottawa to make the effort worth it. JAMB hasn't published a cost estimate.

What to do if you plan to write JAMB in Canada

There's nothing to register for yet. You can still get ready, so next year's notice doesn't catch you rushing.

1. Decide whether a Nigerian university, polytechnic or college of education is really on your list.
2. Bookmark jamb.gov.ng and check it for the UTME 2027 notice.
3. Follow the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa for local instructions.
4. Get your O-level results in order, since Nigerian admission will ask for them anyway.
5. Work out how you'd get to Ottawa and where you'd stay, in case the exam falls on a weekday.

Once JAMB publishes the Ottawa details, follow the official instructions and pay only through the channels JAMB names. AidaPay doesn't sell JAMB PINs. You can check the exam PINs AidaPay currently sells, or browse more exam and result guides on the AidaPay Journal.

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Published 7 October 2026. Prices and codes change - if you spot one that has moved, tell us and we will fix it.