The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in partnership with Rite Foods Limited, will on Tuesday, 30 June 2026, host the Maiden Academic Excellence Recognition Award Ceremony in Lagos to celebrate seven exceptional Nigerian students who distinguished themselves through outstanding academic performance during the 2025 admission exercise.

The initiative, sponsored by Rite Foods Limited, underscores the shared commitment of both organisations to promoting academic excellence, rewarding merit and inspiring young Nigerians to pursue educational achievement.

At the ceremony, each of the seven award recipients will receive ₦5 million in recognition of their exceptional performance in both the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the respective Post-UTME or institutional screening exercises conducted by their admitting Universities.

The seven awardees emerged through a rigorous, transparent and merit-based selection process coordinated by JAMB. Six winners represent the six geopolitical zones of the country, while the seventh award recognises the highest-performing admitted candidate living with a disability.

The institutions winning candidates are:

1) University of Lagos (South-West Zonal Winner)
2) University of Uyo (South-South Zonal Winner)
3) Federal University of Technology, Owerri (South-East Zonal Winner)
4) Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia (North-West Zonal Winner)
5) University of Maiduguri (North-East Zonal Winner)
6) Federal University of Technology, Minna (North-Central Zonal Winner); and the
the recipient of the award for Candidate Living with Disability also came from the
7) University of Lagos.
The University of Lagos stands out as the only institution producing two award recipients at this maiden edition.
The ceremony is expected to attract over 300 distinguished guests from across Nigeria’s education sector, government, academia and the corporate community.

Expected dignitaries include the Honourable Minister of Education, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Vice Chancellors of the award-winning candidates’ universities, Vice Chancellors of universities in Lagos State, Executive Secretaries and Chief Executives of key regulatory agencies including the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), as well as principal officers of tertiary institutions, education stakeholders, development partners, corporate leaders, students and members of the media.

Fabian Benjamin, Ph.D., OrgExpert
PCA JAMB