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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced plans to screen more than 500 exceptional candidates under the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session. The screening exercise is scheduled to take place from 22 to 26 September.
The process will be conducted by a special technical committee set up by JAMB, following resolutions reached during a virtual meeting of board members on Wednesday. Three venues have been designated for the exercise: Lagos, Owerri, and Abuja, with 397 candidates slated for Lagos, 136 for Owerri, and 66 for Abuja.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, explained that out of 41,027 underage candidates who sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), over 40,000 did not meet the required standards. “This screening is to ensure that only exceptional and well-prepared underage candidates gain admission. People have been doing it in other parts of the world; we are not reinventing the wheel,” he said.
A subcommittee led by Prof. Taoheed Adedoja presented the assessment plan, which includes subject-specific tests followed by a brief oral interview. The committee will also request result verification from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for shortlisted candidates prior to the interviews.
Participants in the virtual meeting included heads of tertiary institutions, government agencies, civil society representatives, members of the Nigerian Academy of Education, and the principal of the Federal Government Academy for the Gifted, Suleja.
The creation of the screening committee was prompted by this year’s UTME results, which showed that out of 1.955 million candidates nationwide, 599 scored above 300 but fell below the minimum age of 16. The policy is in line with the Ministry of Education’s directive setting 16 as the minimum entry age for tertiary institutions and aims to ensure candidates are mentally and psychologically prepared for higher education.
Several universities, including the Air Force Institute of Technology (Kaduna), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (Bauchi), University of Jos, and Osun State University, have stated they will not admit underage candidates under any circumstances.
JAMB emphasised that the initiative will balance academic excellence with cognitive maturity, prevent age falsification, and shield young candidates from undue parental pressure. Only candidates who achieve a minimum of 320 in UTME, 80% in post-UTME, and at least 80% in a single WAEC or NECO sitting will be considered for screening.
