The affected facility, located at Government Day Secondary School (GDSS), Gembu, had been the sole centre serving the Mambilla Plateau, accommodating over 1500 candidates in the 2025 UTME.
Over 1500 candidates in the Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State face financial strain ahead of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) delisted the area’s only Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre.
The affected facility, located at Government Day Secondary School (GDSS), Gembu, had been the sole centre serving the Mambilla Plateau, accommodating over 1500 candidates in the 2025 UTME.
Under JAMB’s 2026 guidelines, towns with fewer than three accredited CBT centres are no longer approved for UTME registration or examinations.
The move has effectively excluded Sardauna LGA, forcing candidates to travel to neighbouring local governments, including Jalingo, Zing, and Bali, for both registration and the examination itself.
Education stakeholders in the state now warn that candidates may now spend between ₦130,000 and ₦220,000 to complete the registration and sit for the UTME.
Candidates from Ndum–Yaji and Bang communities are expected to spend nearly ₦100,000 on transportation, accommodation, feeding, registration, and mock exam fees. For those from Kan-Iyaka, costs could exceed ₦108,000, while even residents of Gembu, the local government headquarters, face registration costs of over ₦60,000.
Transport alone for candidates from Bang and Kan-Iyaka communities could range from ₦35,000 to ₦50,000 per trip due to long distances and poor road networks.
Accommodation in Jalingo or Zing adds further expense, and the costs are expected to double, as candidates will need to return to these centres for the main UTME.
A school principal in Gembu described the development as a setback to Taraba State’s free education policy.
“Education may be free, but access has now become expensive. This policy contradicts the goal of equal opportunity,” he said.
Parents, guardians, and community leaders warn that the policy disproportionately affects rural students, turning access to university education into a luxury.
“Many parents simply cannot afford to send their children that far for registration and exams,” a community leader said.
Stakeholders, led by JD Yaji, criticized the policy as urban-biased, arguing it ignores the realities of rural communities, including poverty, distance, and poor infrastructure.
“Sardauna is not a small community. It is a constitutionally recognised local government. Removing its only CBT centre is unfair and discriminatory,” Yaji said.
Hebrews Wubon, another stakeholder, described the situation as discriminatory, saying candidates from Sardauna are now at a disadvantage compared to those in urban areas with multiple CBT centres, despite the state’s free education policy.
The group has appealed to the Taraba State government, education stakeholders, and JAMB authorities to urgently review the policy and restore a CBT centre in Sardauna LGA to ease the financial burden on candidates and their families.