Game Over Or Second Chance? JAMB Reveals Final Stand On Underage Applicants

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed plans to establish a special screening committee to assess the eligibility of over 500 exceptional candidates under the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this on Wednesday after a virtual meeting with key stakeholders.

According to him, of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), more than 40,000 failed to meet the initial qualification benchmarks, which include a minimum UTME score of 320 (80%), 80% in post-UTME, and 80% (24/30 points) in a single WAEC or NECO sitting.

For the 500-plus candidates who met these criteria, the special screening will run from September 22 to 26, 2025, at designated centres in Lagos (397 candidates), Owerri (136 candidates), and Abuja (66 candidates). The process will feature subject-specific tests, oral interviews, and verification of WAEC results to confirm eligibility.

Professor Oloyede emphasized that the goal is to ensure only the most outstanding and well-prepared underage candidates are considered for admission, noting that similar practices exist in other parts of the world.

The subcommittee overseeing the exercise, led by Professor Taoheed Adedoja, will work closely with WAEC and other relevant bodies.

Stakeholders present at the meeting included heads of tertiary institutions, government agency representatives, civil society organisations, members of the Nigerian Academy of Education, and the principal of the Federal Government Gifted Academy, Suleja.

It is worth recalling that the Federal Government has previously set the minimum age for admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions at 16 years.