How Nigerian Universities Run Second and Supplementary Admission Lists
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Jul 24, 2026 • Africa Admissions & Exams
After the first CAPS admission round, Nigerian universities fill leftover slots through supplementary lists and the JAMB Marketplace. If you were not admitted or you rejected an earlier offer, you stay eligible for these later rounds without applying again from scratch.
🎓 Supplementary lists cover slots that go unfilled after the main round, often because admitted candidates did not accept or did not register.
📩 The Marketplace lets institutions with open slots send fresh offers to qualified candidates already sitting in the CAPS pool.
⏱️ Check your CAPS profile regularly during the admission window. New offers appear there, not by email or phone call.
Why Supplementary Lists Exist
The first CAPS admission round never fills every approved slot at every institution. Some candidates reject their offers, some never respond, and some institutions receive a lower NUC-approved quota fill than they expected from the first list. Rather than leave those places empty, universities and polytechnics return to the pool of candidates who applied to them and issue a second, or supplementary, list.
Supplementary lists follow the same merit and quota principles as the first round, based on the institution's own criteria (UTME score, O-level results, catchment area, or educationally less developed state quota where it applies), just applied to whatever slots remain.
How the JAMB Marketplace Works
The Marketplace is the CAPS feature that connects institutions with unfilled slots to candidates who are still eligible for admission but not yet placed. An institution that has not reached its quota can browse candidates who meet its cut-off and send a fresh offer directly to their CAPS profile, even to a candidate who originally applied elsewhere.
You do not apply to the Marketplace directly. Your eligibility comes from your UTME or Direct Entry registration and your current CAPS status, so keep your profile complete and your contact details correct.
How to Track Your Eligibility
Log in to your CAPS profile and check your admission status regularly, since a supplementary or Marketplace offer appears the same way a first-round offer does.
Keep your registered phone number active, since JAMB sends confirmation messages to that number when your status changes.
If you rejected an earlier offer, you remain visible to other institutions searching the Marketplace, so a supplementary offer can still reach you.
Contact the admissions office of a specific institution you are interested in to ask whether it plans to run a supplementary list for the course you want.
Supplementary List vs the Original CAPS Round
The accept and reject mechanics stay identical between rounds, biometric verification at a CBT centre, or ACCEPT or REJECT sent to 55019 or 66019 from your registered phone. What changes is timing. Supplementary lists and Marketplace offers usually run later in the admission cycle, closer to when institutions resume for the academic session, so respond quickly once an offer appears since these later windows tend to close faster than the first round.