The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that it will conduct a special screening exercise for over 500 exceptional candidates below the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The exercise will run from September 22 to 26, 2025, according to a statement issued on Thursday by JAMB’s Director of Public Affairs and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin.
A special technical committee will oversee the process, which follows resolutions reached during a virtual stakeholders’ meeting on Wednesday. Screening venues will be in Lagos (397 candidates), Owerri (136 candidates), and Abuja (66 candidates).
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed that of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), only a fraction met the benchmarks for consideration.
The screening will include subject-specific tests, an oral interview, and verification of WAEC or NECO results. Candidates must have scored at least 320 (80%) in UTME, obtained a minimum of 80% in post-UTME, and achieved 80% (24/30 points) in a single WAEC or NECO sitting to qualify.
According to JAMB, the policy aligns with the Federal Ministry of Education’s minimum admission age of 16. It is designed to balance academic excellence with cognitive maturity, discourage age falsification, and protect candidates from undue parental pressure.
Four universities — 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.
Stakeholders at the meeting included heads of tertiary institutions, government agencies, civil society groups, members of the Nigerian Academy of Education, and the principal of the Federal Government Gifted Academy, Suleja.
